Making mathematical online resources FAIR: at the example of small phylogenetic trees

TL;DR

This paper discusses transforming an early 2000s mathematical library of small phylogenetic trees into a modern, FAIR-compliant, sustainable online resource through software development, website creation, and documentation of lessons learned.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive process for making mathematical data FAIR, including software tools, a user-friendly website, and documentation for future projects.

Findings

Development of a reproducible software package

Creation of a user-friendly, interconnected website

Documentation of lessons learned for similar projects

Abstract

We report on the process of taking an early 2000's mathematical library, the Small Phylogenetic Trees, and transforming it into a FAIR, modern, and sustainable repository for data from algebraic phylogenetics. This process is based on a three-fold strategy: (1) writing a software package which enables the user to reproduce results of the database; (2) setting up a user-friendly new website with cross links to theoretical publications, code snippets, and serialized output of computations; and (3) all-the-while documenting the steps we take in order to derive lessons learned which may be generalised to other such projects. This paper addresses (3). (1) is found in https://docs.oscar-system.org/dev/Experimental/AlgebraicStatistics/phylogenetics, and (2) is located at https://algebraicphylogenetics.org.