Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-01-28/WikiProject report

WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology is a WikiProject that is dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of topics and articles related to cellular and molecular biology, with its primary goal being "to collect and organize the totality of this information and make it accessible to researchers and laypeople alike by providing an entry point to the wealth of biological data that is currently hidden in obscure databases and journal articles." The project was created on 28 August 2005, and, since then, has grown to more than 150 members.

Interview with
We asked some questions of, the coordinator of the Molecular and Cellular Biology WikiProject.


 * 1) What is the best way for users unfamiliar with molecular and cellular biology topics or new to Wikipedia to get involved in the project
 * Dive in and help! Our article worklist could be useful to help people see the most urgent tasks, or you could get involved in the Collaboration of the Month. If you are interested in becoming part of the project in the long-term, just add yourself to the list of participants and get involved in the discussion pages.
 * 1) What are some of the departments or sections of the project
 * We're not really sub-divided in that way, everybody has their own personal enthusiasms and areas of expertise, but we tend to work together quite loosely.
 * 1) What are some of the project's most recent achievements
 * We have produced a lot last year. In terms of quality, we had seven MCB project FAs featured on the main page, and now have created 24 FAs in total (hopefully 25 quite soon, with User:Sedmic putting mitochondrion forward as a current candidate)! In terms of quantity, User:WillowW produced an astounding array of enzyme stubs and the ProteinBoxBot run by Andrew Su has now created several thousand stubs on human genes - we hope these stubs will be "seeds" that will attract more expert editors to improve them. The project is doing extremely well.
 * 1) Are there currently any ongoing discussions concerning project issues or articles within the project's scope
 * Currently we are trying to decide which diagrams to request as part of the Philip Greenspun illustration project and how best to collaborate with the American Chemical Society in their setup of a ACS Chemical Biology wiki. We're hopeful that forging links between the two communities could help us recruit more experts to edit MCB articles, as well as raising the profile of Wikipedia within the academic community.

Note: If you want to hear more from Tim Vickers about this WikiProject, you can listen to the current episode of Wikipedia Weekly.