Making your database available through Wikipedia: the pros and cons

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dc.contributor.authorFinn, R.D.
dc.contributor.authorGardner, P.P.
dc.contributor.authorBateman, A.
dc.date.accessioned2014-08-14T23:02:05Z
dc.date.available2014-08-14T23:02:05Z
dc.date.issued2012en
dc.description.abstractWikipedia, the online encyclopedia, is the most famous wiki in use today. It contains over 3.7 million pages of content; with many pages written on scientific subject matters that include peer-reviewed citations, yet are written in an accessible manner and generally reflect the consensus opinion of the community. In this, the 19th Annual Database Issue of Nucleic Acids Research, there are 11 articles that describe the use of a wiki in relation to a biological database. In this commentary, we discuss how biological databases can be integrated with Wikipedia, thereby utilising the pre-existing infrastructure, tools and above all, large community of authors (or Wikipedians). The limitations to the content that can be included in Wikipedia are highlighted, with examples drawn from articles found in this issue and other wiki-based resources, indicating why other wiki solutions are necessary. We discuss the merits of using open wikis, like Wikipedia, versus other models, with particular reference to potential vandalism. Finally, we raise the question about the future role of dedicated database biocurators in context of the thousands of crowdsourced, community annotations that are now being stored in wikis.en
dc.identifier.citationFinn, R.D., Gardner, P.P., Bateman, A. (2012) Making your database available through Wikipedia: the pros and cons. Nucleic Acids Research, 40(Database Issue), pp. D9-D12.en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkr1195
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10092/9500
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Canterbury. Biological Sciencesen
dc.publisherUniversity of Canterbury. Biomolecular Interaction Centreen
dc.rights.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10092/17651en
dc.subject.anzsrcField of Research::08 - Information and Computing Sciences::0899 - Other Information and Computing Sciences::089999 - Information and Computing Sciences not elsewhere classifieden
dc.subject.anzsrcFields of Research::46 - Information and computing sciences::4609 - Information systems::460911 - Inter-organisational, extra-organisational and global information systemsen
dc.titleMaking your database available through Wikipedia: the pros and consen
dc.typeJournal Article
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