February OHBM Open Science Demo Call

By Elizabeth DuPre and Kirstie Whitaker
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This month we continued our Open Science Demo Call series by speaking to Anisha Keshavan,  Yaroslav O. Halchenko, and Athina Tzovara about three tools they’re developing to improve openness and access in neuroimaging research.
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Anisha

​Anisha introduced braindr, a project she’s developed to crowdsource quality control of large datasets such as the Healthy Brain Network data set. It builds off her previous work in creating MindControl but provides a fun, Tinder-inspired interface for image ratings. She encourages anyone interested to check out the app, remix it for their own data, or contribute to the conversation on how to do quality control of images!

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Yaroslav

Yaroslav told us about DataLad, a solution devised to allow for versioning data. We’ve already recognized the importance of versioning code, but it applies to data too! As Yaroslav pointed out, data can change or have “bugs” like the dreaded left-right orientation flip in MRI data, so understanding what version you’re working with is important. Using DataLad, Yaroslav demonstrated how to install datasets from sources like OpenNeuro and discussed how it can even be used for data sets before they are made publicly available. Interested contributors are welcome to check out the code!

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Athina

Athina introduced a survey she’s actively developing to better understand how research treats underrepresented minorities. It aims to allow non-scientists --- particularly those belonging to traditionally underrepresented minorities --- to take an active role in the scientific process, bridging the divide between researchers and participants. Originally developed through the Mozilla Open Leadership program, the survey is still open to feedback from the community, and Athina encourages anyone interested to join the discussion on GitHub!

Our next call will be on Thursday March 22nd at 7pm GMT (check your local time zone). If you’d like to nominate yourself or someone else to be featured on these monthly calls, please add their information at this github issue, or email the host of the calls Kirstie Whitaker at kw401@cam.ac.uk. You can also join the OSSIG google group to receive reminders each month.

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