Monday 26 August 2013

JABBA - Just Another Bogus Bioinformatics Acronym

As already noted in the recent Biostars post, my own field of bioinformatics is particularly bad (or good, depending on your point of view,) at spawning contrived acronyms. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes, you get the feeling that people are trying a little too hard.

Keith Bradnam has a long and illustrious career in bioinformatics - I first met him when I was a PhD student in Nottingham in the late ’90s, where he was probably the number one local bioinformatics guru. As a result, he has seen more that his fair share of acronym atrocities committed in the name of science. This has resulted in his creation of the Just Another Bogus Bioinformatics Acronym (JABBA) Award.

I won’t reveal the winner of the inaugural JABBA award here - you’ll have to read Keith’s post, linked above, to find out - but ORCA is sufficiently impressed with Keith’s commitment to using acronyms to fight acronyms, that he is being awarded the inaugural Outstanding Contribution To Acronym Generation Or Notoriety (OCTAGON) award. Congratulations, Keith!

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