Biomimicry Resources

Topics in Scitable - Learn At Scitable (Genetics)

Topics in Scitable - Learn At Scitable (Genetics).

A new service of Nature Publishing, "Scitable brings together a library of scientific overviews with a worldwide community of scientists, researchers, teachers, and students."  In addition to promoting learning, it supports online collaboration, publishing of activities and portfolios, and maintenance of evidence-based online course packs.

The first topic included in Scitable is Genetics, broken down into:

• Chromosomes and Cytogenetics
• Evolutionary Genetics
• Gene Expression and Regulation
• Gene Inheritance and Transmission
• Genes and Disease
• Genetics and Society
• Genomics
• Nucleic Acid Structure & Function
• Population and Quantitative Genetics

OpenWetWare

Link: Main Page - OpenWetWare.

I recently received the following e-mail from OpenWetWare, the collaboration site used by the Institute for Biological Engineering.  The Lab Notebook is based on MediaWiki, the platform for Wikipedia.  Although there is a learning curve, it is relatively easy to use.  Best of all, you do not need to host the Wiki yourself and the costs are very reasonable (free). 

OpenWetWare also supports a blogging facility.  Blogs can be a useful ad hoc communication tool, especially if backed up by a Wiki for more formal content.  I have asked for more information and will update this post with any responses.

Although there are many similar solutions available on the Internet, each lacks a large community of 'relevant eyeballs'.  Using OpenWetWare for collaboration on biomimicry projects could get a larger community interested. 

"New on OWW:

• The OpenWetWare Lab Notebook makes it easier to collect, organize and present research data. In addition to being easy to set up, the new OWW lab notebook allows you to create or view project entries by clicking on a calendar, toggle easily between projects and entries, and find content within your project using a special search tool. It also features customizable template pages specifically for your projects.
• The Notebook is geared for both individual users and groups, such as labs and iGEM teams (www.igem.org). To keep up with the latest lab notebook developments, visit our OpenWetWare Lab notebook page: http://openwetware.org/wiki/Lab_Notebook. If you have questions about the lab notebook, please contact Ricardo Vidal (rvidal@openwetware.org)
• OpenWetWare hosts a number of research-related and open science blogs (http://openwetware.org/wiki/Blogs). If you'd like to write about your work--especially the work you document on OpenWetWare-- go to http://openwetware.org/wiki/Special:Contact and tell us why you'd like to blog on OpenWetWare.
• Having a presence on OpenWetWare can help a lab gain exposure in some unexpected ways. The French, Keymer, and McKinney labs, all of whom maintain wikis on OpenWetWare, were mentioned recently in Virtual Networking for Microbiologists, a Nature Review about Web 2.0 applications and science. Check out the full review at http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/journal/v6/n6/full/nrmicro1922.html.
• Tell us what you think. We're always looking for ways to make the process of research easier.  In the coming months, we'll be asking members of the community for their thoughts about the problems and opportunities that exist in research, and how OpenWetware can help solve the problems and enhance the opportunities. http://openwetware.org/wiki/Special:Contact

If you have any feedback you'd like to share with us about making the research process better, or about OpenWetWare in general, feel free to drop a note to Bill, Lorrie or Ricardo, or try our new feedback box in the lower-left corner on the main page. To keep up with openWetWare discussions subscribe to: http://groups.google.com/group/openwetware-discuss."