National Library of Medicine Launches Software Development Challenge

[Editor's Note: This is a reprint of an announcement published on the NLM Web site on April 13, 2011. To be notified of announcements like this subscribe to NLM-Announces e-mail list.]

[Editor's note: Winners of the Show Off Your Apps Challenge have been announced at: //apps.nlm.nih.gov/175/show_off_your_apps_winners_honorable_mentions.cfm.]

"Show Off Your Apps: Innovative Uses of NLM Information"

The National Library of Medicine® (NLM®), part of the National Institutes of Health, invites people to show off their apps. NLM is challenging people to create innovative software applications that use the Library's vast collection of biomedical data, including downloadable data sets, application programming interfaces (APIs), or software tools – all of which are free and available for public use.

NLM is the world's largest medical library and the producer of electronic information resources used by millions of people around the world every day – including scientists, health professionals, and the general public. Since its founding in 1836, NLM has changed the way scientific and medical information is organized, stored, accessed, and disseminated. The challenge, "Show Off Your Apps: Innovative Uses of NLM Information," furthers the Library's mission of supporting the dissemination and exchange of biomedical information to foster scientific discovery, enhance clinical care, and improve public health.

The contest is open to individuals over the age of 18, teams of individuals over the age of 18, and organizations in the United States. Submissions may be any kind of software application – be it for the Web, a personal computer, a mobile handheld device, console, or any platform broadly accessible on the open Internet. Winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony at the National Library of Medicine on November 2, 2011 and links to their application will be publicized on NLM Web sites.

Entries must be submitted to the challenge.gov Web site by August 31, 2011. For more on the rules, and to submit an entry, go to the challenge.gov Web site and search for NLM Show Off Your Apps: Innovative Uses of NLM Information Challenge.

To explore the NLM data required for the contest, please browse the list of NLM databases and electronic resources, and the list of NLM APIs.

For more information, contact NLMDataChallenge@nlm.nih.gov

National Library of Medicine Launches Software Development Challenge. NLM Tech Bull. 2011 Mar-Apr;(379):e22.