Sriram Kosuri/temp

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OpenWetWare (http://openwetware.org) is a wiki (see box 1) promoting the sharing of information, know-how, and experience in biological science and engineering [1]. Individuals and groups use OpenWetWare to easily organize information and collaborate with one another. In the process, information about research topics, laboratories, ordering, equipment maintenance and operation, strains, safety, chemicals, protocols, etc., become available to the larger scientific community.

OpenWetWare contains two types of information sources for experimental protocols. First, users often store their own protocols that are not necessarily written to be easily followed by others. In practice however, most protocols are written to be shared within at least a laboratory, and so are often clear enough to provide a useful starting point. The Protocols section of OpenWetWare contains generalized protocols that are

The Protocols section contains many user-contributed protocols ranging from plasmid minipreps to isolation of murine splenocytes [2]. Protocols are organized in a similar style to a Nature Methods 'recipe book' and can be printed for use at the bench. Both individual and consensus protocols are available. Individual protocols are specific to the lab or person who wrote them and are not necessarily written to be easily followed by researchers unfamiliar with them. In practice, however, most protocols are written to be shared within at least a lab group, and so are often clear enough to provide a useful starting point. Consensus protocols are intended for scientists trained in basic laboratory techniques but unfamiliar with the particular experimental approach. They represent a community consensus for a particular protocol.

In contrast to other, more traditional protocols books like Molecular Cloning, anyone with an OpenWetWare account can edit protocols [3]. Thus, the community can update and amend protocols more rapidly than most paper or online protocol reference sources permit, enabling protocols to remain current with best practices. The DNA ligation protocols on OpenWetWare offer a useful example of both lab-specific and consensus protocols [4].

OpenWetWare is a growing community and we encourage researchers to join and contribute to the dissemination of biological knowledge.

Box1

The site provides a place for groups and individuals to organize their own information and to collaborate easily and efficiently. For example, this article was written collaboratively on the wiki. OpenWetWare is open for anyone to view but requires registration to edit. Registration ensures that all edits are attributable to individual users. All content is freely reusable under either a Creative-Commons Attribution Sharealike or GFDL license.

What is a wiki? A wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add or edit content [5]. This makes wikis an effective tool for collaborative authoring. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, is the most famous example. The open style of wikis which allows any user to edit most pages is a cause for concern for some. However, for the scientific community, we see this as enabling the free flow of ideas and information. Furthermore, all wikis maintain a revision history for every page to allow reversion of edits, track page development and deal with any mistaken or malicious edits. This historical log is especially important for the sciences where new, possibly incorrect, information is continuously discovered.