Versioned online books with Bioconductor

Author(s): Jacques Serizay

Affiliation(s): Institut Pasteur



There seems to be a need for a more rigorous approach to authoring/publishing books related to bioinformatics. Currently, some of the major pitfalls of authoring/publishing are: Automation of the publishing process (i.e. not building locally) Ensuring reproducibility when assembling books (i.e. documenting dependencies used in rendering) Enable book versioning in sync with Bioconductor releases Allow the end user to reuse resources assembled during book compilation Few points which could be covered during the session: Existing books, why they work/limitations (testimonials welcome!) Key features of a robust publishing approach (input welcome!) BiocBook versioning mechanism Should Bioconductor support (and build?) online books, and if so, how? pros/cons Any other bullet points can be added to this list. Outcomes of the session: Have a better idea of the BioC community's desire to adapt existing / write new books (start a list?); Formalize a common workflow for writing a book; If needed, define a strategy for Bioconductor to support building books.