Community annotation in
translational biomedical informatics:
Lessons from Wikipedia
Chang Feng Quo gtg801f@mail.gatech.edu
May D Wang, Ph.D. maywang@bme.gatech.edu
Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing
Open Science Workshop
Jan 5th - Jan 9th, 2009
Big Island, Hawai’i

• What is Wikipedia?
• Lessons from Wikipedia
• The way forward

What is Wikipedia?

The Long Tail
Chris Anderson, Wired

ca. 09/07
© Robert A. Rohde

ca. 09/07
© Robert A. Rohde

Crowdsourcing

What is Wikipedia?
Long tail economics
Crowdsourcing

Lessons from Wikipedia
• Ideological • Operational
– Community access – Scalability
– Consensual reality – Data quality
– Editorial outlook – Ownership

Lessons from Wikipedia
• Ideological • Operational
– Community access – Scalability
– Consensual reality – Data quality
– Editorial outlook – Ownership

Define and create community access
© 1997-2008 Brian L Dear

Lessons from Wikipedia
• Ideological • Operational
– Community access – Scalability
– Consensual reality – Data quality
– Editorial outlook – Ownership

The science of (or from?) opinion polls
© 2004 www.coxandforkum.com

Lessons from Wikipedia
• Ideological • Operational
– Community access – Scalability
– Consensual reality – Data quality
– Editorial outlook – Ownership

© Robert A. Rohde

Lessons from Wikipedia
• Ideological • Operational
– Community access – Scalability
– Consensual reality – Data quality
– Editorial outlook – Ownership

Lessons from Wikipedia
• Ideological • Operational
– Community access – Scalability
– Consensual reality – Data quality
– Editorial outlook – Ownership

Garbage in,

Lessons from Wikipedia
• Ideological • Operational
– Community access – Scalability
– Consensual reality – Data quality
– Editorial outlook – Ownership

Lessons from Wikipedia
• Ideological • Operational
– Community access – Scalability
– Consensual reality – Data quality
– Editorial outlook – Ownership

The way forward

4 key stages of viable techs
1. Right price
2. Market share
3. Displacement
4. Commoditize
Chris Anderson, Wired,
www.ted.com

Luca Cremonini