[Nmrshiftdb-users] Consider contributing

[Christoph S. <c.s...@un...>]

Dear Colleagues,

quite some time has passed since my last email to this nmrshiftdb-users=20
mailing list.
Meanwhile, we have both released version 1.0 of NMRShiftDB as well as=20
published a technical article on the database [1]. The number of=20
registered users has grown considerably and is still growing at a rate=20
of about one per day. This is a lot, if you take into account that we=20
are not yet advertising the database on a large scale.
You will also have noticed that we have passed the 6000 structures=20
boundary. The database software has stabilized considerably and is now=20
running for weeks without reboot :-)

Now I'm taking the chance to point your attention to a few important issu=
es.

1. CONSIDER CONTRIBUTING

One of the more interesting feature of NMRShiftDB, which makes it=20
different from existing databases in the field, is the option for the=20
user to contribute datasets. Only by this mechanism, NMRShiftDB will get=20
bigger and better. Please consider contributing to NMRShiftDB by=20
entering datasets (a structure, a spectrum, an assignment and some=20
additional data) which are interesting for you. This could be either=20
from your own work or from the current or past literature.
If there are electronic collections of such data in your institution,=20
consider donating them to NMRShiftDB. We will be happy to write a parser=20
for this data.
Just think about one dataset per week (~15 min, depending of the dataset=20
size). With 200 users, this makes 1000 datasets per year, which would be=20
a nice start. We are also looking for people to act as reviewers of datas=
et.

2. POST QUESTIONS, HINTS, ETC., TO THIS LIST

This email list is supposed to be forum of information exchange between=20
NMRShiftDB users. If there are any questions, hints, comments, etc.,=20
consider sending your email to this list. This will make the discussion=20
more efficient and transparent, compared to an email exchange between=20
just the administrators and you. We would love to get some feedback from=20
your side. Further, consider reporting bugs and filing requests for=20
enhancements (RFE) via http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/nmrshiftdb

3. UPDATE

We are currently working on a stand-alone client of NMRShiftDB, which=20
will allow you to maintain offline versions of NMRShiftDB, to enter and=20
maintain your own data offline, and to synchronize selected datasets=20
with the online version of NMRShiftDB. An alpha version should be=20
available soon.


With best regards,

Christoph Steinbeck and Stefan Kuhn


[1] Steinbeck, C.; Kuhn, S.; Krause, S. NMRShiftDB - Constructing a=20
Chemical Information System with Open Source Components. Journal of=20
Chemical Information & Computer Sciences 2003, 43, 1733 - 1739.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ci0341363

--=20
Dr. rer. nat. habil. Christoph Steinbeck (c.s...@un...)
Groupleader Junior Research Group for Applied Bioinformatics
Cologne University BioInformatics Center (http://www.cubic.uni-koeln.de)
Z=FClpicher Str. 47, 50674 Cologne
Tel: +49(0)221-470-7426   Fax: +49 (0) 221-470-7786

What is man but that lofty spirit - that sense of enterprise.
... Kirk, "I, Mudd," stardate 4513.3..