Grid-Enabled Measures (GEM) is an initiative of the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
(NIH)
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
(NCI). GEM is a web-based
collaborative
Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The f ...
platform and
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
enabling
research
Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...
ers to exchange harmonized data about behavioral
constructs, measures, and datasets.
GEM has two goals:
# "Promote use of standardized measures which are tied to theoretically based constructs" and
# "Facilitate sharing of harmonized data resulting from the use of standardized measures".
GEM has been proposed as part of the solution to the problem of tracking constructs in electronic medical records and for control of construct proliferation.
GEM has been recognized in the academic literature as an instantiation of cyberinfrastructure for research standardization, a tool for dialogue and consensus building, a tool to facilitate use of linked data and interoperable data systems, and in case reports of expert panel measure categorizations. The GEM database, uses “web 2.0” functionality to solicit, comment, vet, and select measures from the behavioral and population science communities in open and transparent ways.
Scientists are taking advantage of information sharing and collaboration made possible by networking technologies. This new phenomenon is referred to by some as
Science 2.0.
As Science 2.0
gains momentum in the science community, giving a glimpse of future scientific publishing and data sharing, the GEM database is distinct in that it uses these functionalities to help scientists facilitate discovery in a massively connected and participative environment.
References
External links
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National Institutes of Health
Cancer research
Institutional repository software