Rationale
Most biological image processing textbooks focus on the inner workings of image processing algorithms, but the missing key to solve real biological problems is finding ways to combine these into practical workflows.
Mission and Workplan
WG6 will address this need by publishing open access BioImage Analysis textbooks. They will feature chapters on image processing basics, followed by more practical chapters on specific biological problems and how to solve them by BioImage Analysis techniques.
Furthermore, WG6 will plan and integrate highly interactive, continuously updated website with revision-tracked content tightly coupled to the textbook. This will be an efficient instrument for collecting feedback, answering questions and ensuring reproducibility of analysis results by archiving all update histories of texts and scripts. A large part of the content of the open textbooks will be based on teaching materials prepared for practical courses (Training Schools by WG2). WG6 will review workflows, manage cross-references and redundancies, and secure access to the learning material such as sample images (WG5), scripts and required add-ons.
Both for the textbook and its website, WG6 will collaborate closely with an academic publisher. The content of the textbook as well as the workflows (WG4) will be indexed in the webtool. WG6 will publish two versions of the textbook in the period 2017-2020.
Lastly, WG6 will plan to start up a new open access journal to publish practical Image Analysis tools for Life Science, in tight collaboration with the web-tool (WG4) and sample data repository (WG5). A report of feasibility, including possible overlaps with the scopes of already existing journals and actual deployment plans, will be delivered.