The Annotometer; Encouraging uptake and use of freely available curation tools

Abstract

In recent years it has become clear that the amount of data being generated worldwide cannot be curated and annotated by any individual or small group. Currently, there is recognition that one of the best ways to provide ongoing curation is to employ the power of the community. To achieve this, the first hurdle to overcome was the development of user-friendly tools and apps that non-expert curators would be comfortable and capable of using. Such tools are now in place, including IclikVal ( <a href="http://iclikval.riken.jp/" target="_blank">http://iclikval.riken.jp</a> ) and Hypothes.is ( <a href="https://hypothes.is/" target="_blank">https://hypothes.is</a> ).<br> The second problem, which we are now facing, is bringing together and engaging the large number of people needed to perform the curation required to empower these tools. To do this, we need to tip the balance from "wouldn't it be great if there was an app to help me find... " to "the information I need is easy to find in app X ". To achieve this, these apps first need to be seeded with useful information that will allow users to realize their utility and begin to both habitually use and add information to these apps. This will make these tools ever more useful and become a standard part of the process of carrying out research.<br> Here we have prepared and present a competition to encourage the uptake of two of the most mature general curation tools currently available. The competition will take place during the 3 days of the Biocuration2016 conference and includes a prize to be rewarded to the person who adds the most annotations. The number of annotations will be tracked by a purpose built tool, the Annot ometer, the code of which will be made available after the conference for re-use by anyone wishing to run a similar event.<br> Users will be asked to register their usernames for the two tools on the Annot ometer website, those usernames will then be used to poll the API's for IclikVal and Hypothes.is usage stats. Everyone will be able to view the leader-board (updated every few minutes) of annotators at anytime during the conference.