Re: Reminder: SysBio Wednesday 11AM ET / 4PM GMT / 5PM CET

Mark,
  These are very insightful comments - these calls certainly bring together
a wide diversity of interests (and personalities ;) - to the point that
early exploratory meetings seem rather unstructured (and hence the
awkwardness of discourse) - yet, present an opportunity to develop a
thought or idea. Starting with even with a small group, other names get
mentioned and invited to participate in the conversation, leading to
clearer short term goals and objectives.  It will be up to everybody,
including the "lurkers", to identify and invite those experts to tell us
what they know, and which activities would be of mutual benefit and
ultimately worth pursuing.

  While I wasn't able to attend this meeting (travel), semantic systems
biology is something that I've been working on for just over a year now -
here are my slides on some of what we've worked on:

http://www.slideshare.net/micheldumontier/formal-representation-of-models-in-systems-biology

  m.

PS: Next week is OWLED + ESWC in Crete, so I plan to resume participating
in calls as of the first week of June.

On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 6:18 PM, Mark <markw@illuminae.com> wrote:

> Hi all SysBio'ers!
>
> I know it isn't really my place to be saying anything, but... when has
> that ever stopped me ;-)
>
> The last conference call was... odd?...  and while Jun's extraordinary
> efforts to keep it moving forward were greatly appreciated (!!  well done
> !!) I think it might be worth having a very open discussion about what our
> expectations are from this group, since it was a fairly small group and
> apparently with a wide range of experience and expertise.
>
> From what I could hear, there were four "tiers" of expertise in the group.
>  Starting from the bottom:
>
> 1)  People like me, who know nothing at all beyond that the
> SysBio/Modeling community have worked hard on putting together standards
> and technologies that are bearing fruit; and that I (as a mere potential
> user of the tech) need to become MUCH more aware of what they're doing in
> order to successfully pursue my own research interests.  So... I'm the
> ultimate lurker on the call.
>
> 2)  People like Erich, who know *a lot* about what's going on in the field
> (because this is their company's business!) but, as a vendor, isn't going
> to be the first one to speak in a call like this because it might come-off
> sounding like a sales-pitch.  He's likely interested in both how the
> technology is evolving (to ensure their products stay current) as well as
> listening to the needs of the community (so that their products stay
> relevant), but I don't expect him to lead the discussion if for no other
> reason than he's simply too polite to "take-over"  :-)
>
> 3)  People like Jun, who has put in a lot of time learning what's out
> there, has a deep and genuine interest, and wants to discuss the pro's and
> con's of the various pieces at some level of detail with people who have at
> least tried to use it.  (...but there weren't many! ...so she was speaking
> to herself most of the time...)
>
> 4)  The full experts in the domain, most of whom were not able to make the
> call, unfortunately.  And I don't say that in any way as an accusation, but
> rather, looking forward, I see a potential "boredom problem", which is what
> I think needs to be discussed.  At least one of the domain experts who did
> attend, left the call mid-chat on the basis that it was "too simplistic"
> (exact quote from IRC)... so if we don't find a way to engage you, the
> experts, we might be in for some disappointing meetings!
>
>
> What I'd like to ask the SysBio community - especially category (4), since
> it seems to me that they are the critical ones to have on these calls, is:
>  "what can WE (1), (2), (3) do to make these calls as useful to you as they
> will be to us?"  I understand that you're probably already talking to each
> other, since this field is your "baby", and thus these calls have the
> potential to offer you little benefit beyond your existing email (etc.)
> chats!  ...So... what can we do, as the broader-community, to provide
> value/feedback/etc. that would ensure we all - experts and noobs alike -
> get something useful out of this group and enjoy and value the hour that we
> spend together every couple of weeks?
>
> If I'm speaking out-of-turn, please flame me :-)  I can take it!  LOL! I
> just want to see this group succeed, and I am willing to stick my neck out
> to see if I can help!
>
> :-)===={
>
>   ^^^
>  my neck
>
> Best wishes all!
>
> Mark
>
>


-- 
Michel Dumontier
Associate Professor of Bioinformatics, Carleton University
Chair, W3C Semantic Web for Health Care and the Life Sciences Interest Group
http://dumontierlab.com