NeuroLex Specifications
From Program on Ontologies of Neural Structures
Contents |
NeuroLex Specifications for Neural Structures
Entity Pages:
- Each structural entity will have its own page
- Each entity will be accompanied by a standard set of annotations
- Each entity will be identified by a unique identifier; right now these are NIF or BIRN, but they don’t need to be if we’d like them to have a more international identification
- Each entity will have a standard set of properties that will themselves be derived from other Wiki entities, e.g., species will come from existing entities
- Because these entities are meant to be used in information systems, each entity will be assigned a version number so that any changes can be tracked. In addition a complete record of all edits and who made those edits (creator) will be recorded.
- For each version, the annotations and properties will be fixed, i.e., uneditable.
- Each entity will have a place where changes can be suggested or corrections can be made.
- New entities can be added by anyone. Trained individuals will review the entities that are added and speedily delete any new entities that do not conform to standards. If a problem is found with a submission, and contributor information is know, these people can follow-up to resolve these issues.
- Entities that been published in a release may not be deleted but they can be retired
- Using features of the semantic wiki, entity pages can also be linked to each other through a defined set of properties, e.g., projections between brain regions can be recorded as links
- Changes will be reviewed by a curator and a new version released on a regular schedule.
- Instances of each entity class may also be linked to each page.
Contributors:
- The NeuroLex is meant to be an authoritative source by which neuroscientists can define structural entities
- As such, the committee felt that anonymous contributions should not be accepted. This point may be open to debate. Perhaps it will be better to say that anonymous contributions will be given less weight by a curator than signed contributions. We don’t want to put unnecessary roadblocks in people’s way. On the other hand, we are unlikely to assign the same weight to a contribution where the submitter is not identified and available for feedback.
- While anyone who signs in can contribute comments and corrections, a curator will be necessary to monitor the discussions and decide what action should be taken.
Users:
- Experts: The NeuroLex will serve as an authoritative reference for experts in their domain to define structural entities in a clear way. It will provide a forum through which debate can occur.
- Non-experts: The NeuroLex is meant to provide a reference so that non-experts can interpret the definition and criteria and apply them to data
- Information systems: NeuroLex needs to be constructed in a way that it can be utilized by information systems that would like to utilize and perhaps mine the information
- Journals: NeuroLex will provide a reference for linking metadata or other entities within articles and will also provide a standard reference for those submitting data.
- Wikipedia: NeuroLex should link to but not supplant Wikipedia, which serves a different purpose. However, neuroscientists should have their view linked to each page and perhaps contribute Wikipedia entities that do not have a page
