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INCF Portal
Following the recommendations of the INCF workshop on Global Portal Services for Neuroscience, the INCF is developing a neuroinformatics portal, which will serve as an entry point to all relevant neuroinformatics resources.
The portal will have three main sections:
- the "About INCF" section will describe the organization and its activities, including programs and projects
- the "Resource" section will point to the main gateways and portals to neuroinformatics databases, tools and services, and present new opportunities for interoperability among the services provided. It will include reference material such as standards, guidelines, and ontologies.
- the "Community" section will provide high level information about
neuroinformatics research groups and projects, people involved, funding
opportunites, and relevant events. Furthermore, this section will provide
opportunities for expressing opinions and engaging in discussions on
topics of relevance for neuroinformatics.
The first component of the new portal, released July 2008, is the INCF Software Center, http://software.incf.org. The main portal with the basic structure outlined above is scheduled for November 2008.
The INCF recommends using the following portals to neuroinformatics resources:
The Neuroscience Database Gateway is hosted by The Society for Neuroscience. It contains a catalogue of databases of experimental data, knowledge bases specific to neuroscience, general bioinformatics resources, lists of links, and providers of research materials. Resources proposed for addition to the Neuroscience Database Gateway are evaluated by Neuroinformatics Committee of The Society for Neuroscience.
Neuroscience Information Framework
The Neuroscience Information Framework is sponsored by the NIH Neuroscience Blueprint and administered by NIDA. This effort aims to catalog electronic and non-electronic neuroscience research resources, and make them searchable by content and usage.
The Japan Node is the portal system to neuroinformatics in Japan, providing access to the Visiome platform, Neuron/Glia platform, Brain-Machine Interface platform, Invertebrate Brain platform, Cerebellar Development Transcriptome Database, and a series of other platforms currently developed in Japan.
The INCF Software Center
The INCF vision of the Software Center is that it will become a communication enabler for software users as well as developers. The Software Center will not only make relevant software discoverable for the neuroscience community but also provide services for developers and users.
The application was first made available and tested at the FENS 2008 meeting in Geneva. The development team has to date focused on implemention of basic functionality, to allow neuroscience software users to efficiently find, evaluate, and successfully make use of shared software tools. Features to be added include communication and collaboration functions, support services to allow software developers organize their software, track the use, and receive feedback for further improvement and development.
