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<p><font color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">(apologies
for cross-postings)</font></font></font></p>
<p><font color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">Dear
everyone,</font></font></font></p>
<p><font color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">With
this email, we would like to introduce a new BIDS Extension
Proposal
(BEP) dedicated to electrophysiological data recorded in
animals
(BIDS-animal-ephys). The BEP document is available <a
href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oG-C8T-dWPqfVzL2W8HO3elWK8NIh2cOCPssRGv23n0">here</a>
and we are now seeking feedback (e.g comments directly </font></font></font><font
color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">in
the document, or posts in our discussion <a
href="https://github.com/INCF/neuroscience-data-structure/issues">forum</a>)
</font></font></font><font color="#000000"><font
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size:
11pt" size="2"><span style="text-decoration: none">fr</span></font></font></font><font
color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">om
the community at large </font></font></font><font
color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">to
make sure this suits the </font></font></font><font
color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">largest</font></font></font><font
color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">
possible </font></font></font><font color="#000000"><font
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size:
11pt" size="2">array
of</font></font></font><font color="#000000"><font
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size:
11pt" size="2">
needs in animal electrophysiology.</font></font></font></p>
<p><span style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight:
normal"><span style="background: transparent">A
bit of context and history. <a
href="https://bids.neuroimaging.io/">BIDS</a>
is a simple and intuitive way to organize and
describe
neuroscientific data in a standardized manner,
originally developed
for human neuroimaging data (see the first paper
on <a
href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fsdata.2016.44">MRI-BIDS</a>),
and widely extended since its original
introduction to other data
modalities (see e.g <a
href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0104-8">EEG-BIDS</a>,
or <a
href="https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.110">MEG-BIDS</a>).
A
good number of exchanges have already taken place
with
electrophysiologists, with initial debates on
whether adapting the
hierarchical organization offered (and imposed) by
BIDS (for other
data modalities and recorded in human subjects)
could suit the needs
of the community of researchers working with
animal models. Of
course, it will change the habits of some, but a
consensus has
emerged that sticking to what BIDS suggests could
suit the needs of a
vast majority and that the long term benefits of
such a
standardization could be worth changing some
habits. These
observations have led to the formalization of this
BIDS-animal-ephys
Extension Proposal (BEP).</span></span></span></font></font></span></font></span><span
style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="background: transparent">
</span></font></font></span></font></span>
</p>
<p><span style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight:
normal"><span style="background: transparent">For
info, this BEP has been drafted by members of the
<a
href="https://incf.org/sig/incf-working-group-standardized-data">INCF
Working Group on Standardized Data Structures</a>,
that was initiated
in 2020 to attempt standardizing the handling of
neuroscientific data
recorded in animal models. Note that at the
present time (early
2021), the discussions in this Working Group are
split to tackle two
different issues:</span></span></span></font></font></span></font></span></p>
<p><span style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight:
normal"><span style="background: transparent">-
How to handle animal data in a generic manner (i.e
across data
modalities, for both in vitro and in vivo data
etc.)? The specific
discussion about this topic is centralized <a
href="https://github.com/INCF/neuroscience-data-structure/issues/9">here</a>.</span></span></span></font></font></span></font></span></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight:
normal; text-decoration: none">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span style="background:
transparent">-
How to handle electrophysiological data recorded in
animals, and how
to standardize the associated metadata? This is the main
objective of
the present BEP.</span></font></font></font></p>
<p><span style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight:
normal"><span style="background: transparent">Please
consider joining this working group if you would
like to contribute
to this effort </span></span></span></font></font></span></font></span><span
style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight:
normal"><span style="background: transparent">(either
directly on these topics, or for other questions /
data modalities)</span></span></span></font></font></span></font></span><span
style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight:
normal"><span style="background: transparent">.
You can also reach the moderators of the present
BEP through our main
discussion <a
href="https://github.com/INCF/neuroscience-data-structure/issues">forum</a>.
Also, please do not hesitate to forward this
message around you so
that we reach as many electrophysiologists as
possible!</span></span></span></font></font></span></font></span></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight:
normal; text-decoration: none">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span style="background:
transparent">Thanks
in advance for your feedback and contributions!</span></font></font></font></p>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Sylvain Takerkart
Institut des Neurosciences de la Timone (INT)
UMR 7289 CNRS-AMU
Marseille, France
tél: +33 (0)4 91 324 007
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.int.univ-amu.fr/_TAKERKART-Sylvain_?lang=en">http://www.int.univ-amu.fr/_TAKERKART-Sylvain_?lang=en</a></pre>
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