Neuroimaging Tools and Resources Clearinghouse

Funded by the NIH Blueprint for

Neurosciences Research

Meet The Technical & Customer Support TeamMeet The Technical & Customer Support Team

First Tier Support– Christian HaselgroveChristian Haselgrove, NITRC Administrator/Moderator– David KennedyDavid Kennedy, NITRC Customer Liaison

Second & Third Tier Support– Turner Consulting (TCG)

• Robert Buccigrossi, Technical Lead• Kent ReynoldsKent Reynolds, Programmer• Keith WagnerKeith Wagner, Programmer• Kimberly Pohland, Documentation• Nina PreussNina Preuss, Project Manager• Maureen Sullivan, UI Interface and Testing

– UCSD/BIRN• Mark EllismanMark Ellisman, NITRC Strategic Advisor• Jeffrey Grethe,Jeffrey Grethe, Rotating System Administrator, System Administration• Maryann Martone, Ontology

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What are NITRC’s Goals? What are NITRC’s Goals?

Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse– “The goal of the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research is to provide

scientists with new tools, resources, and training opportunities through collaborations and pooled resources,” said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. “By building upon significant investments already made in the informatics area, the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse will provide a coordinated, coherent resource for the neuroimaging research community. (NIH Press Release, Oct. 5, 2006)

NITRC Contract Goals– Identify fMRI tools and resources for the neuroimaging

community– Provide information about these tools and access to them in a

common format – Facilitate community interaction to make them more usable by a

broader research community– Facilitate neuroimaging science and neuroinformatics

collaboration and education

What Did Major Release 1.0 Start Out With?What Did Major Release 1.0 Start Out With?

User Functionality– Select among

neuroimaging tools– Use a rating system– View statistics on

download, rating, reviews, overall ease of use

– View comparative matrices of tools

– Secure license information, tutorials, documentation

– Check for updates, access old versions and data sets

– Monitor bugs and feature sets

– Discuss tools/resources in forums and mailing lists

Developer Functionality– Register and categorize

tools– Publish detailed and

summary descriptions– Easily provide new

releases– Provide documentation

and tutorials– Provide data sets– Automated interactions

through Web services– Receive and track bug

and feature requests

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We Listen To The Community, So Now…We Listen To The Community, So Now…

With Major Release 1.1, NITRC Provides– Full search using Google to find content on all

NITRC web page content– “View By Topic” using a dynamic tool tree viewer

• Lists all tools/resources at once• Offers improved tool/resource comparison functionality via

tables

With Major Release 1.2, NITRC Will– Replace PHPWiki with Mediawiki – Provide a one-click virtual machine backup – Include more help text via “i” pop-ups and on the

page itself– Display non-standard license information and

more…Page 5

Concerned About Your Tool’s Safety & Future?Concerned About Your Tool’s Safety & Future?

Funding & Transition Concerns– NITRC is fully funded until Oct. 2011– In 2010, Structured Technology Solutions, Inc. will conduct

Independent Verification and Validation to confirm all processes and documentation are in place for contract transition

Environments– Production environment with nightly back-ups to remote

location– Separately housed stage environment with current code

Functionality in Major Release 1.2 (Oct. ’08)– Ability to download a virtual machine of your tool/resource on a

weekly basis (not to be stood up while NITRC is in operation…)• Instruction for standing up a virtual machine for your tool

will be published as part of contract transition

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How NITRC Can Help YouHow NITRC Can Help You Ways the Site Can Help You Improve Your

Tool/Resource– Secure support from the NITRC development team and the

neuroimaging community to improve your tool or resource via:• Discussion groups and survey capabilities• Ratings and reviews comments provide valuable input from the

community– Use all or a portion of NITRC functionality to manage your

tool/resource• House your tool/resource on NITRC or link externally to your Web site• Utilize NITRC’s documentation management, mailing lists, survey, wiki

and task, feature request and bug tracking functionality

Ways the NITRC Team Can Help You– NITRC Marketing and Outreach Plan

• Continued outreach to 80+ fMRI tool developers – Email, phone, and this year, on-site presentations to research laboratories

• Promoting the tools and resources at major neuroscience conferences – Booth: SfN, HBM, CNS– Posters/Electronic Demos: ISMRM, SBP, AMIA

– NITRC Technical and Customer Support Plan • Batch uploading of archived forums and other transition support

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NITRC ActivitiesNITRC Activities

Marketing and Outreach Ontology/Vocabulary

– NITRC topic tree categories include165 ontology terms• These categories are what most registered users use to initially find and

compare tools so it is important that all NITRC tools are categorized – Ontology discussion group project administered by Maryann

Martone and David Kennedy– On-Going Coordination With BIRNLEX and NCBC Ontology

Initiatives Web Site Development

– Of 393 feature requests, over 1/3 have already been developed (138)

• All priority 5 and 4, and the majority of 3 will be implemented• Change Control Board directs the priorities of implementation

– Positions on CCB rotate so there are opportunities to serve

Annual Independent Verification & Validation Review– STSI is contracted to annually review NITRC’s project

management and web development to verify whether we meet the contract requirements and have quality processes in place

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Functionality That You May Be Unaware Of…Functionality That You May Be Unaware Of…

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You Can Link Inside NITRC To External PagesYou Can Link Inside NITRC To External Pages

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Use NITRC’s external linking functionality to link to your own web site

The links will be displayed alphabetically on the left menu bar

Forums, Mailing Lists Can Get You AnswersForums, Mailing Lists Can Get You Answers

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The NITRC team has migrated pre-existing forums and mailing lists to NITRC successfully

Use NITRC’s Community forums to generate interest on a topic that is not tool/resource

specific, or use your own tool/resource forum for specific discussions

By Sharing Code, Others Can Improve ItBy Sharing Code, Others Can Improve It

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If you want the neuroscience community to apply its creative resources to your source code,

you can upload it so that others and improve upon it

The users who improve the code need to be members of your project to reload it

Better Recognition Via Screen ShotsBetter Recognition Via Screen Shots

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You can upload up to six images, such as screen shots, your laboratory logo, or even pictures

of members of your team

This new capability can help tool and laboratory recognition

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Open Discussion: Open Discussion: Are We Accomplishing Our Goals?Are We Accomplishing Our Goals?

Scope – All fMRI and associated structural tools and resources

available to the community Serve

– fMRI tools and resources users– fMRI tools and resources developers

Provide– Information about tools and resources – Access to these tools and resources through downloads and

links – Community-based tool and resource reviews – A controlled vocabulary for resource description to promote

easy searching and comparison – A user-friendly venue where developers can share tools or

resources – Assistance and advice from the community and the NITRC

team for improvements and enhancements – Outreach at major conferences to develop community

awareness

Tell Us What We Need To Do Via NITRCTell Us What We Need To Do Via NITRC

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Use the NITRC Community bug and feature request tracker to communicate needed

development to the NITRC team

Always feel free to contact anyone from the NITRC if you have issues or concerns