title: Developing biomedical ontologies collaboratively.
abstract: The development of ontologies that define entities and relationships among them has become essential for modern work in biomedicine. Ontologies are becoming so large in their coverage that no single centralized group of people can develop them effectively and ontology development becomes a community-based enterprise. In this paper we present Collaborative Protégé-a prototype tool that supports many aspects of community-based development, such as discussions integrated with ontology-editing process, chats, and annotation of changes. We have evaluated Collaborative Protégé in the context of the NCI Thesaurus development. Users have found the tool effective for carrying out discussions and recording design rationale.
authors.affiliation: Stanford Center for Biomedical Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Natalya F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Noy
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tudorache
authors.forename: Sherri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: de Coronado
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Musen
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D009323:Natural Language Processing; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000145:classification*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software; D013358:Subject Headings; D014481:United States; D018875:Vocabulary, Controlled