Fwd: [protege-users] A special request: Letter of support for Protege renewal grant

Forwarding from another list .

Mischa

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Mark Musen <musen@stanford.edu>
> Date: 1 December 2010 03:58:06 GMT
> To: User support for the Protege-OWL editor <protege-owl@mailman.stanford.edu>, protege-discussion@mailman.stanford.edu, protege-users@mailman.stanford.edu
> Subject: [protege-users] A special request: Letter of support for Protege renewal grant
> Reply-To: jvendetti@stanford.edu
> 
> Dear Colleagues,
> 
> I apologize for the cross-postings, but this message is very important.  This message is about the future of the Protégé system.
> 
> As most of you know, Stanford is able to make Protégé available as a freely downloadable, supported, open-source platform only because we receive a generous grant from the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The NIH funding supports bug fixes and feature enhancements requested by the community. Each new release of the Protégé system is a direct result of our NIH funding.
> 
> We have received ongoing funding for the Protégé resource since 2003, and it is now time to prepare our next grant application so that we can continue to evolve the software (the rich client, WebProtégé, and a wide range of plug-ins), to answer questions posted to our mailing lists, and to offer our recurring Protégé conferences.  For those of you who have benefitted from the availability of Protégé over the years, we would be extremely grateful if you could join with us to help us secure the next round of funding so that you can continue to receive these benefits.
> 
> I am asking for something very simple:  A letter of support that we can include in our grant application.
> 
> When our request for grant funding will be reviewed by the NIH, the testimonials that we receive from our user community will have a major role in determining whether we will receive future funding and, if so, whether we will be funded at the level that we request in our proposal.  Letters from people who rely on Protégé technology will go a long way in ensuring uninterrupted user support and many exciting new features in the years ahead.  Your letter will make an enormous difference to ensure that Protégé doesn't go away.
> 
> It would be best if you could send me a signed letter on letterhead (either a hardcopy or, preferably, a PDF) that I can include in the grant application.  Sending me plain e-mail is fine, but a letter on formal letterhead with a real signature will have maximum impact on the reviewers.
> 
> Every letter should provide a brief description of the project or projects for which you are using Protégé or have used Protégé.  If a project is the result of federally sponsored research, please include a reference to the agency that is funding the work and the corresponding grant or contract number.  Grant numbers are particularly important to the National Institutes of Health.
> 
> Although there is no required format for your letter—and indeed it should not appear that your letter is following a specific template—it would be wonderful if you could comment on the following kinds of things:
> 
> * How are you using Protégé?  Please describe the project or projects with which you are using the system.
> 
> * How have you benefitted from the Protégé resource?  Have you or your team used our mailing lists?  Have you communicated with the Protégé development group directly?  Have you attended any of our conferences?
> 
> * If the availability of an open-source product such as Protégé is important to you, you might comment on why this is the case.
> 
> * There are now several commercial tools on the market that allow users to create and edit ontologies and knowledge bases.  If you believe that Protégé, its plug-ins, or the Protégé user community offer advantages that are important to you that are not associated with these commercial products, you might want to comment on why you are using Protégé.  Do you see a tangible advantage to the development and enhancement of a tool such as Protégé by a research group such as ours?  Simply put, the government will want to know why it should continue to invest in the Protégé system and in its ongoing evolution.
> 
> * In sum, how has the availability of the Protégé resource made a difference to you and your work?
> 
> Formal letters are best, but, if it is impractical to write a letter, a brief e-mail message will be greatly appreciated.  Fundamentally, the continued existence of the Protégé resource depends on our ability to demonstrate the importance of our work to the community of users whom we support.  Without your enthusiastic letters, NIH will not see evidence for continuing to fund us.
> 
> I know that this request imposes on your time.  The entire Protégé team will be grateful for any statement of support that we can include in our grant application.  One of the most exciting aspects of the Protégé project has been the ability to serve and support a user community that believes in our work and in what we are trying to do.  All of us who work on the Protégé system are grateful to all of you who have contributed your support, your suggestions, and your code to the Protégé project.
> 
> Please send your letters to me at the address below.  If you know of others who might be able to help us out, then please forward this message directly to them.
> 
> Many thanks for your support and for your contributions to our user community,
> 
> Mark Musen
> Principal Investigator, the Protégé project
> 
> 
> -----------------------------------------------
> Mark A. Musen, M.D., Ph.D.
> Professor of Medicine (Biomedical Informatics Research) and of Computer Science
> Director, Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research
> Stanford University
> 251 Campus Drive, X-215
> Stanford, CA  94305  USA
> 
> Phone: +1 (650) 725-3390
> Fax: +1 (650) 725-7944
> 
> musen@Stanford.EDU
> 
> 
> 
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