[05.02.2008] LHDL aims at establishing a vast database on the human musculoskeletal system.

Within the framework of the LHDL project, the Rizzoli Institute (IOR) in Bologna, Italy and the Dept. of Anatomy of the Free University of Brussels (ULB) are developing an incredible data collection on the musculo-skeletal system. The primary goal of LHDL however is to develop an ICT infrastructure that will allow any interested researcher not only to access IOR and ULB data, but also to post-process them and share the result, or simply add their own data and models. In the end we hope to create the ultimate data repository on the musculoskeletal system, seen as a first step in the creation of the Muscolo-Skeletal Physiome. More information on the project can be found here:
http://www.livinghuman.org/


The Digital library service will start to operate in a preliminary version in the first half of 2008. In its final version (due by February 2009) any user of the digital library will be able to set who can access his/her datasets and under which conditions. However, in the version we shall release in 2008 this functionality will not be available yet, and thus who is allowed to enter the digital library can get everything available.


The LHDL consortium decided that because of this limitation, in 2008 we shall open the library only to few beta users groups that can contribute to the collection with additional data of comparable value.


If you are leading a research group/consortium owning collections of data on the musculoskeletal system you deem of considerable value, for quantity and quality, and you are interested in having your data well organised and stored in the LHDL digital library service, we invite you to apply for LHDL beta user status.


To do so, please send to me by email a brief letter in which you formally ask to join the LHDL consortium as LHDL user, and that this status should be extended to eventual co-workers / consortium partners (who should be listed), and that you plan in the arc of 2008 to upload and share with us a tentative list of resources (which should be detailed, including the storage requirements they involve). This will not constitute an obligation for you, but only an expression of good will; however, the LHDL consortium will retain the right to revise the status of LHDL user, if gross deviations from this plan are observed.


Your application will be presented at the next consortium meeting, and if approved will grant to the list of users you gave us the permission to access all LHDL services, download the LhpBuilder software, store your data onto the digital library, and download any data that has or will be uploaded by the LHDL partners until the beta phase is completed. This will come at no cost for you, and you will retain the full ownership of your data. You will be allowed to contribute to the development of the digital library services by recommending features and improvements, and you will be invited to participate to the consensus process that will define the legal and operational model that will regulate the LHDL services once the research project finish.


Since your request is non-committal at this stage, you will be allowed to request details on the data already available, those we plan to collect in the next few months, and on the type of services LHDL does and will provide, before formalise your decision to joint; in this sense, your request to join the LHDL user group should be intended as a mere expression of interest.


Best regards


Marco Viceconti
co-ordinator of the LHDL project