> We hope that the course email list PPS96-PROTEINS will rapidly become the
> repository of all protein knowledge in the universe... jacky
>
It will. And we must add as much structure to it as possible using the
glossary mechanism.
We now have two curators (Kurt Giles and Darren Fast) who have boldy
dared to take on the curation of the PPS96 glossary. We owe them a great
debt and I would urge everyone to think how they could help.
Kurt and Darren will (I suspect) need to revisit the PPS95 glossary very
thoroughly. Amongst the issues are:
- what terms to include (some were irrelevant, others need adding)
- what natural groupings (concepts) to use (e.g. aminoacids encompasses
A->Y, secondary_structure includes alpha_helix...)
- what components are in a glossary entry
- how to link in figures, connexion tables, etc.
- how to add external links
(These will obviously not all be solved immediately :-).
It would be nice if some people would volunteer for sub-tasks and take
some of the load off K+D.
In PPS95 we had quality control of the structure but not of all the
content. It's very important that we approve the content, and I think
that entries should be posted in draft form for comment. (If you look
back in the vsns-pps-glossary list there are some very good commentaries
on terms. These commentaries can themselves be linked in, of course!
(e.g. a term can have pointers to the authorisation procedure).
The technology to create a glossary will take a little time to develop.
For now we should:
- decide on a list of terms
- add definitions to them
- try to start grouping them into concepts
I suggest that Hyper-G is probably the best tool to use to manage this at
present and the VHG project is in touch with Graz about how to develop this.
If we structure the material well (as we did last year) it will be
trivial to translate it into a new format.
I suggest that K+D use the same basic approach as last time round and we
will refine the structure of the entries separately.
(Note that PPS96 is one of very many glossaries in the Virtual
Hyperglossary Project. The VHG is not part of the PPS course, nor is it
a Birkbeck project, although we have close links. The VHG has a home
page at http://www.dl.ac.uk/CBMT/glossary/ but I am planning a new
location fairly soon...)
If PPS96 develops from where PPS95 left off it will develop an
outstanding information resource. :-)
P.
Peter Murray-Rust 44-181-9662554 T "Nothing exists except atoms and empty
pmr1716@ggr.co.uk 44-181-9662109 F space; all else is opinion" Democritos.
Biomolecular Structure, Glaxo Wellcome, Greenford, Middx, UB6 0HE, UK
& p.murray-rust@mail.cryst.bbk.ac.uk :http://www.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/PPS/index.html