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

hi all,



mark, great comments, get's us to think.



in fairness, we had a specific topic, SBML, and technology growing up
around it.  your category 4 actually breaks down into what people are
experts in, unfortunately the experts in SBML were all at a major
conference having to do with SBML so that was bad timing.



since i'm not an expert in SBML, i was interested in how it might fit into
the use case the interest group is trying to put together.  some of the
question i have is does it have enough uptake (like MAGE-TAB in gene
expression) to be worth folding in, how easily does it translate to OWL and
RDF and are people doing that (apparently yes)? and so on...



so i am looking forward to the next call,



cheers,

michael



Michael Miller

Software Engineer

Institute for Systems Biology



*From:* Helena Deus [mailto:helenadeus@gmail.com]
*Sent:* Thursday, May 24, 2012 10:03 AM
*To:* Erich Gombocz
*Cc:* Mark Wilkinson; public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org; Jun Zhao
*Subject:* Re: Reminder: SysBio Wednesday 11AM ET / 4PM GMT / 5PM CET



Hi guys,



The fault is entirely mine, I asked Jun to keep the ball rolling as I have
not been very present lately due to project/work commitments :(



Attached is a rough plan of where I want to take the systems biology task
force (and also the semantic systems biology here at DERI).



I propose that we start by criticizing this plan, it's strengths and
weaknesses (i'm serious, feel free to put your reviewer's hat on ;-) ) and
use that in future discussion of the task force.



I've also made it available as an editable google doc - I know a lot of you
have meaning full references that are very relevant, so I would urge you to
PLEASE add these to the document and not wait for me to do it...



https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UrUOQmD9gswgBr1BQmdjRZ9VGuyTojd_8NTUOJbUC3s/edit



I really want to keep the ball rolling on this one, as I feel it is an
incredibly exciting project to work on (and an awesome group)!



So, please feel free to participate and stay tuned for the next call ;-)



Best,

Helena

On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 4:28 PM, Erich Gombocz <egombocz@io-informatics.com>
wrote:

Dear All SysBio's:

I'm agreeing with Mark's comments with all my heart and mind; me too
wants this group to succeed, so as Mark put it so pointedly,


>"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?

let's set the focus on common expectations for this group!

Erich



-----Original Message-----
From: Mark [mailto:markw@illuminae.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 8:18 AM
To: public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org; Jun Zhao
Subject: Re: Reminder: SysBio Wednesday 11AM ET / 4PM GMT / 5PM CET

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





-- 
Helena F. Deus

Post-Doctoral Researcher at DERI/NUIG

http://lenadeus.info/