Category Archives: open issues

Final Mystery Molecules

Posted on October 14, 2006 by pm286

Four more mystery molecules – this will be the last lot. Jean-Clause Bradley has guessed some, if not all, of my purpose. (Forget the first mystery molecules – WordPress corrupted the steganography).. But the second lot of molecules and this … Continue reading →

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My Data or Our Data?

Posted on October 7, 2006 by pm286

In the Science Commons meeting Creating a Vision for Making Scientific Data Accessible Across Disciplines (see earlier post) Andrew Lawrence (Royal Observatory Edinburgh) illustrated the wide range of “ownership” of data even in a single discipline – physics – I … Continue reading →

Posted in data, open issues | 1 Comment

Jmol – we love it

Posted on October 7, 2006 by pm286

Bob Hanson has just released yet another stunning set of routines in Jmol. Here is a snapshot (of a slice through a crystal), but the actual demo is, of course, interactive. You don’t have to be a scientist or computer … Continue reading →

Posted in "virtual communities", chemistry, open issues | 1 Comment

Open Source need not be shiny

Posted on October 4, 2006 by pm286

A very interesting comment on the tragedy of the lurkers (my concern that Blue Obelisk software is heavily used by people who do not show up in the community.)… daen Says: October 4th, 2006 at 9:50 am eI can think … Continue reading →

Posted in "virtual communities", open issues | 2 Comments

Open Knowledge Foundation

Posted on October 4, 2006 by pm286

After my post on the “tragedy of the lurkers” I thought I would raise it on the Open Knowledge Foundation Mailing list. The OKFN is the creation of Rufus Pollock – one of the advantages of living in Cambridge is … Continue reading →

Posted in data, open issues | 1 Comment

Open Source and the Tragedy of the Lurkers

Posted on October 1, 2006 by pm286

In my last post ( Science Commons and Pasteur’s Quadrant) I pointed readers to the collection of vision papers for next week’s meeting on the Science Commons. I ended it with an implied challenge to the pharmceutical industry thats they … Continue reading →

Posted in "virtual communities", chemistry, open issues | 5 Comments

Science Commons and Pasteur's Quadrant

Posted on October 1, 2006 by pm286

I’m in Washington (in my favourite guest house in the US, Woodley Park Guest House (near the Zoo). It’s small and we all have breakfast together which gives a great atmosphere – so much better than the amorphous chain hotels. … Continue reading →

Posted in chemistry, data, open issues | 3 Comments

Wikipedia: Getting started

Posted on September 29, 2006 by pm286

Sometime last year I made my first edit to Wikipedia. I was extremely nervous despite many years on the web and having built and run virtualo communities. What if I said something stupid? Or broke one of the rules? Since … Continue reading →

Posted in "virtual communities", open issues | 3 Comments

Let's write a Wikipedia article

Posted on September 26, 2006 by pm286

I have always been entralled by the idea of a worldwide knowledgebase and a decade ago Lesley West, Alan Mills and I developed a technology to create a worldwide terminology. The Virtual Hyperglossary (TM) [probably the earliest use of this … Continue reading →

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"Open"

Posted on September 26, 2006 by pm286

As I mentioned earlier I am about to start a Wikipedia entry on “Open Data”. Lorcan Dempsey noted that this was quite a common way of approaching a communal subject. So I shall take readers through the process of creating … Continue reading →

Posted in "virtual communities", open issues | 2 Comments