Trillium Report
Encyclopedia
The Trillium Report is a German medical magazine
dealing with innovation management in medicine that was established in 1997. the editor-in-chief is Georg Hoffmann (University of Munich and University of Virginia
). Its special focus is on developments in diagnostic and preventive strategies in biomedical and automation technologies. The journal uses supervised collaborative writing.
technology for collaborative writing since 2005. The user interface looks very much like that of Wikipedia
, but the mechanisms of knowledge management
are different in two respects:
The algorithm of the messaging system makes sure that each change to an article prompts other authors to make more changes. In its simplest form, an e-mail is sent to the previous author if his or her name is different from the current author. If more than two authors contribute to an article, this algorithm introduces an effective stochastic element called "principle of floating couples": The more authors contribute to a given article in a given period of time, the higher is the probability that a message sent out at time t0, reaches an author, who is no longer the previous author at time t1, when he or her makes the next change to the article.
. Obviously the "ideal" number is not a constant but rather depends on behavioural and cultural features of the respective group of authors. For example, the ideal number is inversely correlated with the number of daily SPAM e-mails in a given country or professional group.
and JavaScript
using MySQL
as a database. Programming started mid 2005, i.e. approximately at the same time when American news papers such as the Los Angeles Times
started collaborative editing
as well.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
dealing with innovation management in medicine that was established in 1997. the editor-in-chief is Georg Hoffmann (University of Munich and University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
). Its special focus is on developments in diagnostic and preventive strategies in biomedical and automation technologies. The journal uses supervised collaborative writing.
Collaborative writing
The Trillium Report has been using WikiWiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
technology for collaborative writing since 2005. The user interface looks very much like that of Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, but the mechanisms of knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
are different in two respects:
- Access is limited to invited authors, and the process is supervised by a team of editors.
- An automatic messaging system makes sure that at least two authors get informed about any changes being made to Trillium articles.
The algorithm of the messaging system makes sure that each change to an article prompts other authors to make more changes. In its simplest form, an e-mail is sent to the previous author if his or her name is different from the current author. If more than two authors contribute to an article, this algorithm introduces an effective stochastic element called "principle of floating couples": The more authors contribute to a given article in a given period of time, the higher is the probability that a message sent out at time t0, reaches an author, who is no longer the previous author at time t1, when he or her makes the next change to the article.
Scientific aspects
The scientific challenge of the "Triki" approach is to optimize the number of authors in a way that the number of e-mails is kept high enough to fuel the process, but not that high that Triki messages might be perceived as spamSpam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
. Obviously the "ideal" number is not a constant but rather depends on behavioural and cultural features of the respective group of authors. For example, the ideal number is inversely correlated with the number of daily SPAM e-mails in a given country or professional group.
Technology
The underlying program "Triki" (Trillium Wiki) has been written in pHPPHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
using MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
as a database. Programming started mid 2005, i.e. approximately at the same time when American news papers such as the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
started collaborative editing
Collaborative editing
Collaborative editing is the practice of groups producing works together through individual contributions. Effective choices in group awareness, participation, and coordination are critical to successful collaborative writing outcomes. Most usually it is applied to textual documents or...
as well.