[Open-bio-l] volunteering for openbio

[Ravi Iyer]

Hi all....

I've been lurking on the list for a week or so as I've been interested in
getting involved in the OpenBio projects.  I emailed the address on the
website for volunteers with a brief description of my skills and interests
and Chris Daigdigan indicated that I should seek feedback on this list as
he'll be away for a bit.  I'm mainly a php/sql programmer and I'm very
competent technically with databases and web technology.  I happen to run a
bio related website (newbornscreening.com), and I've been trying to teach
myself bioinformatics by browsing the public databases, taking some local
college biology courses, and reading various books (ie the O'Reilly bioperl
and bioinformatics books).

Chris suggested 2 areas which I could help out...."(1) helping to fix up our
websites with the ability to syndicate news cross-site and (2) helping the
BioSQL project move forward."  I'd love to do either/both or anything else
which someone thinks might be a tangible project within my abilities.  I
started a coffeehouse after the dot-com crash in San Francisco, but I'm
winding my involvement down now, so I have some freetime.  If anybody could
point me in the right direction as far as becoming involved, I'd be very
appreciative.  I was even considering going to the conference in Edmonton,
though I admit to some worry that the biology parts may go over my
head....but I guess that's how you learn....


Thanks in advance....Ravi