User:Kelli Gowland/sandbox

PrometheusWiki: PROtocols, METHods, Explanations and Updated Standards Wiki, is a web-based, free-content resource project based mostly on volunteer contributions. PrometheusWiki is designed for researchers in the fields of ecological and environmental plant physiology to easily access and share protocols and to provide a forum for discussion and debate on different practices. According to Ancient Greek mythology, Prometheus was the Titan who first bestowed fire, at the time the greatest standardized technology. The premise behind PrometheusWiki is that Science moves most rapidly when the majority of researchers use similar methods and can easily repeat and build upon each other. In ecological and environmental plant physiology, there is a strong need for standardised practice.

Traditionally, information about protocols has been communicated either through conventional scientific peer-reviewed publications, or through word-of-mouth interactions and protocol sharing between specific lab-groups. The former is slow and formal while the latter is inefficient in what is now a global field. Hence, the impetus for a project such as this arose from a desire to provide an up-to-date, centralised resource, using new technology to facilitate contributions from research groups across the globe. PrometheusWiki seeks to build a new method of communication about methods within the research community. The PrometheusWiki site is a collaboration between the PrometheusWiki Editorial Board, CSIRO PUBLISHING, and with the support of the ARC/NZ Research Network for Vegetation Function. PrometheusWiki uniquely combines the open communication of the www with the traditions of peer review that ensure quality and prestige to deliver a useful resource for anyone conducting experiments in the fields of ecological and environmental plant physiology.

Key Topic Areas Protocols and content on PrometheusWiki are categorized according to the key topic areas listed below. Contributors submitting new protocols are asked to specify which area their protocol best relates to: Sensing and environment; Atmosphere; Plant-level microclimate; Sensor technology and data logging; Soils and Rhizosphere; Structure Anatomy and Microscopy; Architecture; Morphology; Function; Gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence; Growth; Imaging technologies; Isotope methods; Tissue chemistry; Water relations; Experimental design and analysis; Experimental treatments; Statistics Contributing to PrometheusWiki PrometheusWiki is written collaboratively by an international group of scientists interested in ecological and environmental plant physiology. Anyone with internet access can register, write and make changes to most PrometheusWiki articles. PrometheusWiki's intent is to create a constructive flow of expertise among groups that 1) moves the field toward standardization using “best practices” and 2) improves efficiency in the general research effort by promoting communication with respect to methods and protocols.

References

Sack, L, Cornwell, WK, Santiago, LS, Barbour, MM, Choat, B, Evans, JR, Munns, R and Nicotra, A (2010) A unique web resource for physiology, ecology and the environmental sciences: PrometheusWiki. Functional Plant Biology 37: 687-693. doi:10.1071/FP10097

Nicotra, AB, McIntosh, E (2011) PrometheusWiki: online protocols gaining momentum. Functional Plant Biology 38, iii–v. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/FPv38n11_ED.