Domain names available for adoption

The OBF has two sets of domain names available for adoption by a non-profit or open source project: biows.org, biows.com, biows.net and biocpp.org, biocpp.com, biocpp.net These domains were registered and donated to us with bio-web-services (biows) and bio-c-plus-plus (BioC++ or BioCPP) in mind, but we’ve failed to find a good home for them. Please note that this is like adopting a free puppy - we’ll transfer them at no cost, but domain names come with annual renewal charges which the recipient organisation would be responsible for paying. [Read More]

Planning an online vs. an in-person conference: which is harder?

Online. By at least a factor of two. Our recent article entitled Lessons learnt from organizing a virtual conference discusses some of our technology choices and how we leveraged them to put on a successful online meeting. That article touches briefly on some of the challenges we faced, but it doesn’t fully convey how much work it was–both in advance and during the event. Before we go any further, who are you? [Read More]

Getting introduced to Bioinformatics and Open Science through BCC 2020

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship program aims to promote diverse participation at events promoting open source bioinformatics software development and open science practices in the biological research community. Gigi Kenneth, a biochemistry undergrad and a bioinformatics enthusiast from Nigeria, was supported to participate in Bioinformatics Community Conference 2020 by this fellowship granted to her in the application round-1 of 2020. Find more information here. I’m a biochemistry undergraduate, in my final year from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. [Read More]

Announcing OBF (travel) fellowship awardees for 2020 round 1

on behalf of the OBF Board members We are delighted to announce that four awardees have been selected to receive the OBF travel fellowship for 2020 round 1, to support their participation in virtual events. The OBF travel fellowship is now offered 2 times a year to multiple awardees towards supporting their participation in scientific workshops, conference and training events. The selection of individuals is made based on their applications, which state how their participation in the chosen event helps them promote open science practices in bioinformatics and/or enhance representation of minority groups in their communities. [Read More]