CAZypedia:About

General

CAZypedia is an encyclopedic resource on carbohydrate active enzymes. It is inspired by, and meant to be a logical extension of, the CAZy database, which "describes the families of structurally-related catalytic and carbohydrate-binding modules (or functional domains) of enzymes that degrade, modify, or create glycosidic bonds."

CAZypedia openly welcomes contributions of new articles and editorial corrections from persons actively engaged in glycoscience research. A Board of Curators is responsible for setting editorial policy and ensuring that a high standard of articles is met.

Content

Although meant to be truly dynamic, in the spirit of the constantly evolving Wikipedia, the first incarnation of CAZypedia will focus on cataloging the structural and mechanistic "firsts" in each of the CAZy glycoside hydrolase (GH) families. In particular, primary literature will be cited which gives the first identification of enzyme active site residues, catalytic mechanism, three dimensional structure, or other important work which defines catalysis in a GH family or subfamily. CAZypedia is not meant to be a direct repetition of the CAZy database, nor of the GenBank and UniProt databases, but a distillation of the key work in the field.

Editorial policies

The editorial policies of CAZypedia are inspired by the best aspects of Wikipedia and, in particular, Citizendium. CAZypedia will strive to be a dynamic, community-based effort, while at the same time balancing a high level of curation and editorial input to produce quality content.

In this respect, CAZypedia directly incorporates many of Citizendium's Fundamental Policies. For the purposes of CAZypedia, we have adapted these policies as follows:

The CAZypedia project is launching with some fundamental policies. Those who support these commitments are invited to contribute; those who reject any of these policies are kindly asked to abstain from participating.

I. The nature of the project.

1. The ultimate goal of the CAZypedia community, a global group of collaborators, is to create the most reliable encyclopedia of carbohydrate-active enzymes possible.
2. The CAZypedia will be a wiki. Edits will not be required to be approved by editors before appearing on the wiki.
3. The CAZypedia will be devoted to simplicity, both in presentation of content and in the organization of the community. Special roles will not be created without excellent reason, and bureaucracy will be kept to the absolute minimum necessary.

II. Fundamental policies concerning content.

1. The content of the CAZypedia will always be openly available for non-commercial use, although all copyright is retained.
2. It will be the project's aim to make the content of the CAZypedia:

• accurate
• based on common experience, published, credible research, and expert opinion
• neutral in sense
• legal and responsible

III. Fundamental policies concerning community governance.

1. All contributors to the CAZypedia must do so using their own real names.
2. The CAZypedia will be open to contribution by anyone (tentatively, "authors") who is able to make a positive difference and who is willing to work collaboratively under the policies and management of the project.
3. The CAZypedia will invite subject area experts to serve as Curators. Curators will be expected to work "shoulder-to-shoulder" with authors in the wiki. Among the things that Curators will be empowered, singly or collectively, to do are (1) to make decisions about specific questions, or disputes, concerning particular articles in an Curators's area of expertise, and (2) to approve high-quality articles. Curators will not have the right, except perhaps in very unusual cases, to "lock" articles and thereby prevent the collaborative process from continuing.
4. The CAZypedia will have a set of persons of mature judgment specially empowered to enforce rules, comprising (at least tentatively) the Board of Curators. The enforcement of project rules is to be carried out using common sense and leniency.
5. There will be a separation of powers: Associate Curators will not be able to decide project policy, although the Board of Curators will remain open to suggestions from all contributors.

IV. Statement of rights.

1. Contributors in good standing have a right to build the CAZypedia without constantly having to do battle with people who are constantly breaking project rules or trying to undermine the project. There will be a process for rapidly removing rulebreakers from the project. While most people will enjoy the privilege of contributing to the CAZypedia if they are able to make a positive difference, there is a blanket right neither to contribute nor to participate in the project's governance.
2. There will be a right of appeal, and analogues to other traditional "legal" rights will be observed, such as the right to view and respond to the evidence cited against one. We will make extensive creative efforts toward effective design of oversight processes, to ensure that the appeals process is not abused, e.g., in a self-serving way or to advance ideological views.
3. The general public has the right to expect the quickest possible removal of copyright-protected and libellous material. Processes and tools will be created that make it difficult for libel to appear on articles concerning living persons and their activities, and for such to be removed as quickly as it is found.

V. The adoption of a CAZypedia Charter.

1. An Advisory Board for the CAZypedia Foundation will be appointed by the Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with persons of his choosing.
2. Within six months to a year after the launch of the CAZypedia, its Advisory Board will adopt a binding community charter that states, in a clear but general way, the fundamental goals and policies of the CAZypedia project. The judgment of the Advisory Board, on the matter of the Charter, will be regarded as final.
3. The Charter will supersede the present Statement of Fundamental Policies, and it will include information about how it may be amended.
4. The Charter will be regarded both as the supreme policy of the CAZypedia community and as the legal basis of operation of the project as part of any non-profit organization.
5. Consequently, all positions of authority designated prior to the adoption of the Charter, including that of Editor-in-Chief, will immediately fall within the purview of the Charter, and of the mechanisms it specifies, upon its adoption.

More guidelines for CAZypedia contributors

These pages contain more information on Wikipedia's guidelines, which are recommended reading before authoring or editing CAZypedia:

• What Wikipedia is not.
• Simplified Wikipedia ruleset.

User accounts

You must create a user account before you can contribute to or edit CAZypedia.

• We request that users list their full name when creating an account on CAZypedia.
• After creating an account, we also request that all users fill in some biographical information about themselves on their user page. Your user page can be accessed by clicking your username at the top of any CAZypedia page after you have logged in.]
• It is strongly recommended to read the help pages on writing pages and inserting references before starting to write/edit for CAZypedia.

If you would like to create a user account on CAZypedia now, click here.

Welcome to CAZypedia!