--
RobAllan - 29 Aug 2006
The Integrative Biology VRE Project: how portals and digital
repositories can benefit computational biology.
Matthew Mascord (IBVRE, Oxford)
Abstract
The Integrative Biology VRE project was set up specifically to identify
and develop support for particular areas within the Integrative Biology
communities' research lifecycle where there is clear benefit in the
provision of some form of online collaboration environment, or portal.
Through a qualitative study, based on interviews and focus groups, a
targeted set of high level requirements were identified, articulating an
approach based on bespoke tool development and technology evaluation.
One such requirement, for a common, centralised, digital repository for
in silico experiments, aims to help ensure all experiments carried out
are reproducible. To deliver this, the IBVRE project is working closely
with the IB technology group - who are producing the underlying
requisite Grid middleware - to design and develop a portlet-based user
interface for this repository. This talk outlines the user interface
design elicitation work carried out so far with two biomedical
engineering research groups in the US, and in so doing explains why such
a portal interface has real potential in terms of fundamentally changing
and enhancing the way research is carried out within this community.