Modeling Biological Systems Using Crowdsourcing

Abstract

Crowdsourcing is a very effective technique for outsourcing work to a vast network usually comprising anonymous people. In this study, we review the application of crowdsourcing to modeling systems originating from systems biology. We consider a variety of verified approaches, including well-known projects such as EyeWire, FoldIt, and DREAM Challenges, as well as novel projects conducted at the European Center for Bioinformatics and Genomics. The latter projects utilized crowdsourced serious games to design models of dynamic biological systems, and it was demonstrated that these models could be used successfully to involve players without domain knowledge. We conclude the review of these systems by providing 10 guidelines to facilitate the efficient use of crowdsourcing.

Brilliant Challenges Optimization Problem Submission Contest Final Report

“…It was the first widely-advertised challenge in the area of operational research, in which the objective was not to submit algorithmic solutions for some problem, but to publish the problem itself. The challenge proved that the application of crowdsourcing could be very successful in defining interesting problems [19] in the OR area. For this reason, we propose guidelines supporting organization of such type of contests in the future:…”