Gene Wiki

Proposed in original paper at http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0060175&ct=1

Description

"Jon Huss III and his colleagues from San Diego State University, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation and Washington University School of Medicine outlined their proposal to develop a gene wiki on Wikipedia.

In a PLoS Biology paper, the researchers described their plan to create an online resource filled with content that can be read by all audiences, from lay people to students to professionals. And unlike extant gene databases such as Entrez Gene in which large tracts of information are submitted and edited by a few experts, they said, the entries in this database would come from a projected vast pool of volunteer contributors.

(On a side note, the gene wiki isn’t alone in looking for talented contributors of information about genes. 23andMe is looking for a full-time scientific curator — someone who can, among other things, sift through journal papers and help identify genetic associations of interest. For further information, check out the job posting here.)

Huss and his colleagues aren’t the first to think of a gene wiki, but they are unusual in going against the top-down approach by laying a foundation on Wikipedia. By the time their paper was published, they’d created entry stubs for 7,500 genes such as ITK, and updated entries for another 650, including BRCA1.

“Because articles are dynamic and not subject to rigorous peer review, the gene wiki is not intended to be a reference that is cited in a traditional peer-reviewed article or used exclusively as a source of gene annotation,” the researchers wrote.

Huss and his colleagues hope to involve a number of people, each taking a little time to enter and edit these gene entries on Wikipedia. One obvious question is how long it’ll take people unfamiliar with the site to learn how to contribute. Early feedback suggests the process may not be as intuitive as expected, and notes that participation is key for this effort to succeed.

But the researchers’ plan to develop a gene database that can be accessed and edited by anyone at any time also brings up the same issue that has dogged Wikipedia over the years: accuracy." (http://spittoon.23andme.com/2008/07/30/gene-wikiality/)