To use published phenotype information in computational analyses, there have been efforts to convert descriptions of phenotype characters from human languages to ontologized statements. This postpublication curation process is not only slow and costly, it is also burdened with significant intercurator variation (including curator–author variation), due to different interpretations of a character by various individuals. This problem is inherent in any human-based intellectual activity. To address this problem, making scientific publications semantically clear (i.e. computable) by the authors at the time of publication is a critical step if we are to avoid postpublication curation. To help authors efficiently produce species phenotypes while producing computable data, we are experimenting with an author-driven ontology development approach and developing and evaluating a series of ontology-aware software modules that would create publishable species descriptions that are readily useable in scientific computations. The first software module prototype called Measurement Recorder has been developed to assist authors in defining continuous measurements and reported in this paper. Two usability studies of the software were conducted with 22 undergraduate students majoring in information science and 32 in biology. Results suggest that participants can use Measurement Recorder without training and they find it easy to use after limited practice. Participants also appreciate the semantic enhancement features. Measurement Recorder’s character reuse features facilitate character convergence among participants by 48% and have the potential to further reduce user errors in defining characters. A set of software design issues have also been identified and then corrected. Measurement Recorder enables authors to record measurements in a semantically clear manner and enriches phenotype ontology along the way. Future work includes representing the semantic data as Resource Description Framework (RDF) knowledge graphs and characterizing the division of work between authors as domain knowledge providers and ontology engineers as knowledge formalizers in this new author-driven ontology development approach.

中文翻译：

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测量记录器：开发一个有用的工具来进行物种描述，产生可计算的表型

为了在计算分析中使用已发布的表型信息，已经努力将表型字符的描述从人类语言转换为本体化语句。这种出版后的策展过程不仅缓慢且成本高昂，而且由于不同个人对一个角色的不同解释，它也承受着重大的策展人之间的差异（包括策展人-作者的差异）。这个问题是任何基于人类的智力活动所固有的。为了解决这个问题，如果我们要避免出版后策展，那么让作者在出版时在语义上明确（即可计算）是关键的一步。为了帮助作者在生成可计算数据的同时有效地生成物种表型，我们正在试验作者驱动的本体开发方法，并开发和评估一系列本体感知软件模块，这些模块将创建可在科学计算中轻松使用的可发布物种描述。已经开发了第一个称为测量记录器的软件模块原型，以帮助作者定义连续测量，并在本文中进行了报告。该软件的两项可用性研究是针对 22 名信息科学专业的本科生和 32 名生物学专业的本科生进行的。结果表明，参与者无需培训即可使用测量记录器，并且他们在有限的练习后发现它易于使用。参与者还欣赏语义增强功能。测量记录器的字符重用功能可将参与者之间的字符收敛率提高 48%，并有可能进一步减少用户定义字符时的错误。还确定了一组软件设计问题，然后进行了纠正。测量记录器使作者能够以语义清晰的方式记录测量，并在此过程中丰富表型本体。未来的工作包括将语义数据表示为资源描述框架 (RDF) 知识图，并在这种新的作者驱动的本体开发方法中将作者作为领域知识提供者和本体工程师作为知识形式化者之间的工作分工进行表征。测量记录器使作者能够以语义清晰的方式记录测量，并在此过程中丰富表型本体。未来的工作包括将语义数据表示为资源描述框架 (RDF) 知识图，并在这种新的作者驱动的本体开发方法中将作者作为领域知识提供者和本体工程师作为知识形式化者之间的工作分工进行表征。测量记录器使作者能够以语义清晰的方式记录测量，并在此过程中丰富表型本体。未来的工作包括将语义数据表示为资源描述框架 (RDF) 知识图，并在这种新的作者驱动的本体开发方法中将作者作为领域知识提供者和本体工程师作为知识形式化者之间的工作分工进行表征。