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<br><div style="font-size:162%; border:none; margin:0; padding:0em; color:#000;">Welcome to [[LIMSwiki_mission|LIMSwiki]].</div>
<div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:105%;">The free [[Laboratory_informatics|laboratory informatics]] encyclopedia that [[Help:Contents|anyone&nbsp;can&nbsp;edit]].</div>
<div id="articlecount" style="font-size:85%;">[[Special:ListUsers|Users]] have contributed: [[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}]] articles.</div><br>
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! style="padding:2px;" |<h2 style="margin:3px; background:#cedff2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; text-align:left; color:#180360; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Getting Started</h2>
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If you're new to editing a wiki, the best place to start learning editing syntax is the [[Help:Contents|Basic Text Formatting]] help file. <br>&nbsp;<br>Below are some links to introduce you to LIMSwiki:
* [[LIMSwiki mission|LIMSwiki Mission]]
* [[Add and change request|Add and Change Requests]]
* [[Special:AllPages|Glossary of All Pages]]
* [[:Category:Articles with unsourced statements|List of Pages with Unsourced Statements]]
* [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents_User's_Guide A Wiki User's Guide]
* [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:FAQ MediaWiki FAQ]


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{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="margin:1em 1em 1em 1em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; width:85%"
! style="padding:2px;" | <h2 style="margin:3px; background:#cedff2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; text-align:left; color:#180360; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Latest Updates and News</h2>
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<div style="border-bottom:1px solid #abd5f5; background-color:#f0f0f0; padding:0.5em 0.5em 0.5em 0.5em; font-size:172%; -moz-border-radius:10px 10px 0 0;  border-radius:10px 10px 0 0;">Welcome to [[LIMSwiki_mission|LIMSwiki]], <span style="top:+0.2em; font-size:72%;">the free [[Laboratory_informatics|laboratory informatics]] encyclopedia.</span>
| <h2 style="font-size:105%; font-weight:bold; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em; width:50%;">May 22, 2011:</h2>
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[[File:PBB GE IL10 207433 at fs.png|thumb|left|Genomics is only one branch of science that heavily depends on laboratory informatics.]]While researching modern vendors of [[laboratory informatics]] software, I stumbled across [http://www.labvantage.com/blog/index.php/2011/05/lims-eln-sdms-cdms-ecm-les-lis-edc-and-other-interesting-acronyms/ a post] by [[LABVANTAGE Solutions, Inc.|LABVANTAGE's]] Terry Smallmon from earlier this month. In it he rightfully points out that while the nomenclature of laboratory informatics has historically had distinct subdivisions such as [[LIMS]], [[ELN]], and [[CDS]], times are changing. The lines that differentiate a LIMS from a [[SDMS]], for example, have blurred significantly, almost to the point where the nomenclature is losing its meaning in some cases. Smallmon also notes that as vendors take a more modular approach to laboratory informatics, the distinctions fade even more. Finally he points out that at least for him, determining what a potential customer needs shouldn't be based on nomenclature alone, but rather on the problem(s) a customer is trying to solve.
'''LIMSwiki''' is a collaborative wiki dedicated to the scientific community, featuring organized, documented, and up-to-date content regarding all aspects of [[laboratory informatics]], [[bioinformatics]], and [[health informatics]]. LIMSwiki also strives to maintain relevant knowledge about laboratory equipment as well as commercial and [[:Category:Open-source software|open-source]] software likely to be used in a [[laboratory]] setting. This also includes the [[:Category:Vendors|vendors]] of such equipment and software.


From my limited perspective, I can't disagree with Smallmon's observations. In fact, the blurred definition of laboratory informatics solutions is referenced in several cases among the major articles. However, I feel it important to emphasize that while definitions of these solutions may be blurring, a rough majority of vendors seem to continue using the nomenclature to describe their offerings. While I can understand the trepidation and skepticism behind trying to more appropriately define the industry nomenclature, the endeavor still seems a worthy one. Sure, we'll never have full agreement on the definition of any one term; however, by making the effort to coalesce the history of laboratory informatics, the industry should in theory have more cohesion.  
Like any community wiki, the value and success of LIMSwiki is dependent upon the scientific community contributing their vast knowledge through the creation of relevant articles and editing of existing articles where knowledge is absent. If you wish to enrich the content of this wiki or have something of value to add, please consider [[:Special:RequestAccount|requesting an account]].
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Need help getting started with LIMSwiki? Here are some excellent starting points:
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As an outsider looking in, I perceive this to be a desirable goal. Laboratory informatics is an increasingly vital component of laboratories and scientific research. I recently was told a story from a programmer friend who works in genomics. He related that from his viewpoint, there's an increasingly large bottleneck between the amount of data being created in genomics labs and how it's stored and processed. This really struck home for me. As technology allows for better data collection, so should it allow for better storage and processing. And laboratory informatics is at the center of all of this. Faster and more efficient systems will be needed, and regardless of nomenclature, these solutions will solve problems.  
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That said, collecting the history and relevant information surrounding the field can only help unify the effort to create better solutions. The names and definitions of those solutions may change with time, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't make the effort. Just as we document the never-ending changes of language in dictionaries, so should we document the changes of the laboratory informatics industry. It's poised to play an important role in humanity's advancement.
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Need to know more about laboratory and other types of informatics? Here is some suggested reading:
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Are you looking for [[LIMS]] software? An [[electronic laboratory notebook]]? Try these suggestions:
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Best,
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[[User:Shawndouglas|Shawn Douglas]] 18:43, 22 May 2011 (EDT)
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Looking for open-source software solutions to make your lab or office more efficient? Suggestions include:
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Quick update: most of the work right now is going into the [[LIMS vendor]], [[LIS vendor]], [[ELN vendor]], and other vendor pages. These vendor lists will have limited sort features and include information about vendors past and present. The biggest part of this effort is going towards researching if a particular vendor and/or [[laboratory informatics]] program is still active. Sometimes information is lacking to the point where we're unable to determine what happened to a vendor. These instances are being marked with a status of "unknown." The best-case scenario is that current and future wiki users can fill in the blanks where necessary.
 
Thanks,
 
[[User:Shawndouglas|Shawn Douglas]] 20:47, 18 May 2011 (EDT)
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We're beginning to close in on a month since the introduction of this wiki, and we're already at 142 articles. While most of them are article stubs, content has been appearing steadily to the wiki. It's the positive contributions of those familiar with [[laboratory informatics]] that will assure the continued growth and development of the content here. With a quick grasp of the wiki posting guidelines and how referencing works, anyone familiar with some sort of knowledge of the industry should be able to help with this wiki's content.
 
Much research and effort has went into important topics like [[LIMS]] and [[ELN]], while the articles for [[LIS]] and [[SDMS]] may require additional relevant material and references. And of course there are plenty of "stub" articles that only have a sentence or two that will need more content. We're working to clean up a vendors page for specific industries and create a template to make it easier for vendors to begin an article about their company. There's also a promised walkthrough of wiki referencing in the works, so stay tuned.
 
For now please contribute how you can, and if you have questions, contact me on [[User_talk:Shawndouglas|my personal talk page]].
 
Thanks,
 
[[User:Shawndouglas|Shawn Douglas]] 17:07, 9 May 2011 (EDT)
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Please follow the previously posted title guidelines. The biggest problem is we shouldn't be capitalizing every word in a title unless it's a proper noun. Every article with this error must either be deleted and re-entered anew, or redirected to a new entry. This can take a considerable amount of work to correct.
 
Another thing to note is that when it comes to internal wiki links, we should only be linking the first instance of a term and not all subsequent instances as well. For example, an article talking about LIMS should only link the first instance, not all instances in the article. Otherwise a page gets very spammy.
 
Thanks,


[[User:Shawndouglas|Shawn Douglas]] 21:32, 28 April 2011 (EDT)
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For future reference, article titles with words should only have the first word capitalized unless there's a proper name included.  
'''The front page has received a facelift.''' A major complaint of the wiki so far has been that it's not terribly clear where to find the most usable material on the wiki at the moment. We've been so concerned with the content that other aspects have been taken for granted. Hopefully this front page overhaul makes it a bit easier to find the juiciest tidbits. As new material continues to be added, we'll be vigilant and update the front page as necessary.
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<h2 style="font-size:105%; font-weight:bold; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em; width:50%;">February 22, 2012:</h2>
[[File:EDSAC (21).jpg|thumb|left|Thankfully data storage and analysis in the lab has gotten easier.]]'''Yes, this wiki is still alive!''' It's strange to think it's been almost a year since it was introduced. Since then those with the time to spare have added a wide variety of infrastructure and some content. It has been a slow process, however, and like any major wiki project, more knowledgeable and dedicated editors are needed.<br />
So what has been going on with the wiki? The initial focus was to get some of the major concepts like...<br />


Also, plurals are frowned upon. For example the proposed title "Interface Groups" should be "Interface group" to meet naming conventions. I'm occasionally guilty of forgetting the naming conventions for wiki article titles also, so don't feel bad. Here are the naming conventions, listed from Wikipedia:
[[News|Read more of this and other archived news...]]
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* '''Use lower case, except for proper names:''' The initial letter of a title is almost always capitalized; subsequent words in a title are not, unless they are part of a proper name, and so  would be capitalized in running text; when this is done, the title will be simple to link to in other articles: ''Northwestern University'' offers more graduate work than a typical ''liberal arts college''. For initial lower case letters, as in eBay, see the technical restrictions page. See also the special rules on capitalization in bird naming.
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* '''To italicize a title, add the template <nowiki>{{italic title}}</nowiki> near the top of the article:''' Use of italics should conform to [[WP:ITALICS]].
* '''Use the singular form:''' Article titles are generally singular in form, e.g. Horse, not Horses. Exceptions include nouns that are always in a plural form in English (e.g. scissors or trousers) and the names of classes of objects (e.g. Arabic numerals or Bantu languages).
* '''Avoid abbreviations:''' Abbreviations and acronyms are generally avoided unless the subject is almost exclusively known by its abbreviation (e.g. NATO and Laser). The abbreviation ''UK'', for United Kingdom, is acceptable for use in disambiguation.  It is also unnecessary to include an acronym in addition to the name in a title.
* '''Avoid definite and indefinite articles:''' Do not place definite or indefinite articles (''the'', ''a'' and ''an'') at the beginning of titles unless they are part of a proper name (e.g. ''The Old Man and the Sea'') or will otherwise change the meaning (e.g. The Crown).
* '''Use nouns:''' Titles should be nouns or noun phrases. Adjective and verb forms (e.g. democratic, integrate) should redirect to articles titled with the corresponding noun (Democracy]], Integration), although sometimes they will be disambiguation pages, as at Organic. Sometimes the noun corresponding to a verb will be the gerund (''-ing'' form), as in Swimming.
* '''Do not enclose titles in quotes:''' Article titles which are quotes (or song titles, etc.) are not enclosed in quotation marks (e.g. ''To be, or not to be'' is the article title, while [["To be, or not to be"]] is a redirect to that article).
*'''Do not use titles suggesting that one article forms part of another:''' Even if an article is considered subsidiary to another (as where summary style is used), it should be named independently. For example, an article on transportation in Azerbaijan should not be given a name like "Azerbaijan/Transportation" or "Azerbaijan&nbsp;(transportation)" – use Transportation in Azerbaijan. (This does not always apply in non-article namespaces: see [[Help:Subpage]].)


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions
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{{Most popular pages}}


-Shawn
[[:Special:PopularPages|View all current most popular pages]]
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Revision as of 18:12, 10 April 2012


Welcome to LIMSwiki, the free laboratory informatics encyclopedia.
Users have contributed: 769 articles.

LIMSwiki is a collaborative wiki dedicated to the scientific community, featuring organized, documented, and up-to-date content regarding all aspects of laboratory informatics, bioinformatics, and health informatics. LIMSwiki also strives to maintain relevant knowledge about laboratory equipment as well as commercial and open-source software likely to be used in a laboratory setting. This also includes the vendors of such equipment and software.

Like any community wiki, the value and success of LIMSwiki is dependent upon the scientific community contributing their vast knowledge through the creation of relevant articles and editing of existing articles where knowledge is absent. If you wish to enrich the content of this wiki or have something of value to add, please consider requesting an account.


Get started

Need help getting started with LIMSwiki? Here are some excellent starting points:

Learn more

Need to know more about laboratory and other types of informatics? Here is some suggested reading:


Laboratory informatics software

Are you looking for LIMS software? An electronic laboratory notebook? Try these suggestions:

Open-source software

Looking for open-source software solutions to make your lab or office more efficient? Suggestions include:


Additional information
Latest news

April 10, 2012:

The front page has received a facelift. A major complaint of the wiki so far has been that it's not terribly clear where to find the most usable material on the wiki at the moment. We've been so concerned with the content that other aspects have been taken for granted. Hopefully this front page overhaul makes it a bit easier to find the juiciest tidbits. As new material continues to be added, we'll be vigilant and update the front page as necessary.



February 22, 2012:

Thankfully data storage and analysis in the lab has gotten easier.
Yes, this wiki is still alive! It's strange to think it's been almost a year since it was introduced. Since then those with the time to spare have added a wide variety of infrastructure and some content. It has been a slow process, however, and like any major wiki project, more knowledgeable and dedicated editors are needed.

So what has been going on with the wiki? The initial focus was to get some of the major concepts like...

Read more of this and other archived news...

Most popular pages

This template is no longer being used on this wiki.

View all current most popular pages