Software Undergrad Research Opportunity

OpenWetWare is a wiki-based shared online space for researchers in the biological sciences to share information and develop research collaborations. The site was started less than a year ago, already has several hundred users from 22 universities and was recently mentioned in Nature magazine as an example of a Web 2.0 approach to scientific communication. OWW was awarded an MIT iCampus grant in December 2005 to further its mission.

We are working to develop new methods to allow researchers to easily share experimental protocols, research posters, presentations and any other forms of information that will allow closer collaboration. In service of this, we are looking for an undergraduate student to write software that

• makes it easier to convert information in various file formats (eg MS Word, LaTex) into wiki markup
• implements improved authentication protocols to allow MIT users to log in via certificates
• interfaces between the dynamic information on OWW and digital archives such as MIT's Dspace (http://dspace.mit.edu).

The student will also be encouraged to independently come up with other tools to improve OWW. This project would be ideal for a student interested in developing skills in web application technology, like scripting, mySQL, PHP and authentication. It will also offer the opportunity to work directly with current users of OWW and the Mediawiki open source software development community. We would like someone to start ASAP, with a time commitment of at least 10hrs/week during the semester. The position is for Spring and possibly summer.

Prerequisites: Enthusiasm. Some programming experience (preferably in Java/Python/Perl) required; familiarity with markup languages and document formats desirable but not required.

If you're interested, please send a resume to Alex Mallet, amallet@mit.edu.