University of Glasgow

Roderic Page

![cover-medium.jpg](http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Gct8lVAxKqQ/TDc8JBaClaI/AAAAAAAAAss/4ylMeOBs8Ao/cover-medium.jpg?imgmax=800){border="0"
width="95" height="127" align="right"}My short note on \"Wikipedia as an
Encyclopaedia of Life\" has appeared in *Organisms Diversity &
Evolution*
([doi:10.1007/s13127-010-0028-9](http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13127-010-0028-9))
(yes, I do occasionally write papers). A preprint of this paper is
available on Nature Precedings ([hdl:
10101/npre.2010.4242.1](http://hdl.handle.net/10101/npre.2010.4242.1)).  
  
My presentation at [iEvoBio](http://ievobio.org) covers much the same
ground, and is included below, although the paper was written before I
made the mapping from [NCBI taxa to Wikipedia
pages](http://iphylo.blogspot.com/2010/06/ncbi-to-wikipedia-links-are-now-live.html).  
  

::: {#__ss_4667689 style="width:425px"}
**[Phyloinformatics in the age of Wikipedia (warning, do not view if
easily
offended)](http://www.slideshare.net/rdmpage/phyloinformatics-in-the-age-of-wikipedia "Phyloinformatics in the age of Wikipedia (warning, do not view if easily offended)")**

::: {style="padding:5px 0 12px"}
View more [presentations](http://www.slideshare.net/) from [Roderic
Page](http://www.slideshare.net/rdmpage).
:::
:::

  


My short note on "Wikipedia as an Encyclopaedia of Life" has appeared in
<i>
 Organisms Diversity &amp;
</i>

Wikipedia paper out

![large.png](http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Gct8lVAxKqQ/TDHKpsld8MI/AAAAAAAAArs/uVdhIBHR_nY/large.png?imgmax=800){border="0"
width="86" height="86" align="right"}  
Now that I\'m back in Glasgow, albeit rather jet-lagged, time for a
quick summary of the first [iEvoBio](http://ievobio.org) meeting, held
at the [Evolution](http://www.evolutionsociety.org/SSE2010/) meetings. I
thought the meeting went very well, but perhaps I should leave that
[judgement to
others](http://phylogenomics.blogspot.com/2010/07/summary-of-ievobio-day-1-evolution.html).
Meantime, if you want to see what the fuss was about, here are some ways
to catch up.  
  
**Slides**  
Presentations from iEvoBio are going up at
[SlideShare](http://www.slideshare.net/event/ievobio/slideshows),
including the great keynotes by [Jonathan
Eisen](http://www.slideshare.net/phylogenomics/eisen) and [Rob
Guralnick](http://www.slideshare.net/robgur/ievobio-keynote-talk-2010).  
  
**Abstracts**  
Abstracts and some presentations are going up at [Nature
Precedings](http://precedings.nature.com/collections/ievobio-2010),
where you can add comments, and vote on abstracts you particularly
like.  
  
**Challenge**  
We had five entries for the [visualisation
challenge](http://ievobio.org/challenge.html). The audience voted for a
clear winner, but second place was a dead heat, so we chose to split the
second place prize money. Here are the entries:  

Place

Screen shot

Link

  

1st

![box.png](http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Gct8lVAxKqQ/TDHoPKLda_I/AAAAAAAAAsI/kRkATSjQMWE/box.png?imgmax=800){border="0"
width="200"}

[PhyloBox](http://phylobox.appspot.com/)

2nd equal

![jsphylo.png](http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Gct8lVAxKqQ/TDHm7EygFBI/AAAAAAAAAsA/tIadPE1l7fI/jsphylo.png?imgmax=800){border="0"
width="200"}

[jsPhyloSVG](http://jsphylosvg.com/)

2nd equal

![gengis.png](http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Gct8lVAxKqQ/TDHlLBuurLI/AAAAAAAAAr0/6j1mp67nKYM/gengis.png?imgmax=800){border="0"
width="200"}

[GenGIS](http://kiwi.cs.dal.ca/GenGIS/Main_Page)

![nexplorer.png](http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Gct8lVAxKqQ/TDHngcfKd3I/AAAAAAAAAsE/SmMOYs7lLDA/eol.png?imgmax=800){border="0"
width="200"}

[EOL tree viewer](http://synthesis.eol.org/news/eol-treemap-viewer)

![nexplorer.png](http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Gct8lVAxKqQ/TDHmpIiKqHI/AAAAAAAAAr8/_KeR3uO30vY/nexplorer.png?imgmax=800){border="0"
width="200"}

[Nexplorer](http://www.molevol.org/nexplorer/)

  
The entries gave live demos and participated in the software bazaar so
people could get to play with them hands on. Doing live demos is brave,
especially if you have a Twitter client on, as [Andrew Hill
discovered](http://twitter.com/phylogenomics/statuses/17361946913):  
  
  

::: {style="text-align:center;"}
![tweet.png](http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Gct8lVAxKqQ/TDHpm0EppZI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/-k1BxZ7b1s4/tweet.png?imgmax=800){border="0"
width="400"}
:::

  
  
**Photos**  

::: {style="float:right"}
[![What would Jesus
sequence?](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/4756589841_d7cfc83e34_t.jpg){width="100"
height="75"}](http://www.flickr.com/photos/85456381@N00/4756589841/ "What would Jesus sequence? by Roderic Page, on Flickr")
:::

  
Photos tagged with
\"[ievobio10](http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/ievobio10/)\" are going
up at Flickr, including my photo of Jonathan Eisen\'s \"what would Jesus
sequence?\" t-shirt.  
  
**Twitter**  
You can follow the iEvoBio tweet stream by [searching for ievobio at
Twitter](http://search.twitter.com/search?q=ievobio). I\'ve grabbed this
tweet stream and hope to do something interesting with it when I get the
chance. One message that seems clear is that having keynote speakers who
have a big Twitter presence is a great help in generating buzz.  
  

  
  
The organising committee has a lot to digest as we reflect on the
meeting, but personally I really liked the variety of formats (keynotes,
short talks, lightning talks, software bazaar, and birds of a feather),
the shortness of the meeting (2 days), and the fact that everything was
in one place (no jumping between concurrent sessions). Feel free to add
your thoughts below.


Now that I'm back in Glasgow, albeit rather jet-lagged, time for a quick summary of the first iEvoBio meeting, held at the Evolution meetings. I thought the meeting went very well, but perhaps I should leave that judgement to others.

iEvoBio: where to find out what went on

This year\'s [Evolution
meetings](http://www.evolutionsociety.org/SSE2010/) will feature a new
satellite conference called [iEvoBio](http://ievobio.org/).  

::: {style="text-align:center;"}
![iEvoBio: Informatics for Phyogenetics, Evolution, and Biodiversity
Conference - June 29-30, 2010 - Oregon Convention Center \_ Portland,
Oregon,
USA.jpeg](http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Gct8lVAxKqQ/S3FS8XDkBII/AAAAAAAAAm4/MGT97KWh9q0/iEvoBio%3A%20Informatics%20for%20Phyogenetics%2C%20Evolution%2C%20and%20Biodiversity%20Conference%20-%20June%2029-30%2C%202010%20-%20Oregon%20Convention%20Center%20_%20Portland%2C%20Oregon%2C%20USA.jpeg?imgmax=800){border="0"
width="400"}
:::

  
  
To quote from the [website](http://ievobio.org/):  

> iEvoBio aims to be a forum bringing together biologists working in
> evolution, systematics, and biodiversity, with software developers,
> and mathematicians, both to catalyse the development of new tools, and
> to increase awareness of the possibilities offered by existing
> technologies (ranging from standards and reusable toolkits to
> mega-scale data analysis to rich visualization). The meeting extends
> over two full days and will feature traditional elements, including a
> keynote presentation at the beginning of each day and contributed
> talks, as well as more dynamic and interactive elements, including a
> challenge, lightning talk-style sessions, a software bazaar, and
> Birds-of-a-Feather gatherings.

  
  
I\'m really excited about this conference, especially the [visualisation
challenge](http://ievobio.org/challenge.html#challenge) and the keynote
speakers:  
  

|                                                                   |                                                        |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| ![](http://ievobio.org/images/eisen_jonathan_75p.jpg)             | ![](http://ievobio.org/images/rob_guralnick.jpg)       |
| Jonathan Eisen [@phylogenomics](http://twitter.com/phylogenomics) | Rob Guralnick [@robgural](http://twitter.com/robgural) |

  
The conference is all about participation, so there is ample opportunity
for people to get involved, whether giving contributed talks, lightning
talks, software demos, or entering the challenge. Keep checking the
website for details, or follow us on Twitter
([@iEvoBio](http://twitter.com/iEvoBio)).  
  
Registration for the [Evolution
meetings](http://www.evolutionsociety.org/SSE2010/) will open soon (next
week we think), and from that time you\'ll have the option to extend
your stay in Oregon by a day and take part in what we hope will be an
exciting follow-on to the main meeting.  
  
Lastly, in the interests of disclosure, I\'m the chair of the Organising
Committee. However, credit for the original idea (and most of the hard
work in making it a reality) belongs to Hilmar Lapp at
[NESCent](http://www.nescent.org). Hilmar has had the unenviable task of
herding myself and the other members of the committee (Cécile Ané, Rob
Guralnick, Cynthia Parr, and Michael Sanderson) through the numerous
conference calls required to make this happen.


This year's Evolution meetings will feature a new satellite conference called iEvoBio.To quote from the website:I'm really excited about this conference, especially the visualisation challenge and the keynote speakers:Jonathan Eisen @phylogenomicsRob Guralnick @robguralThe conference is all about participation, so there is ample opportunity for people to get involved, whether giving contributed talks, lightning talks, software demos, or entering

Messages de Rogue Scholar

Wikipedia paper out

iEvoBio: where to find out what went on

iEvoBio launches