[MINC-users] The future of MINC

[Giovanna Pellecchia]

Howdy all,
the debate is taking an interesting turn, especially after Louis 
Collins' offer (and not for the reasons you may think!).

I have a limited experience with MINC, but if you are interested in 
expanding the MINC end-user base, with the ultimate goal of generating 
more MINC development, maybe my experience might be representative of 
the world out there.

I joined Antonio Strafella's lab here in Toronto in 2006 and started by 
installing the MINC tools on his computers.

The most frustrating issue for a newbie was that I could not find a 
single accessible place where to get code, packages, documentation and 
help. Finding the right tools still requires an insider's knowledge and 
there is no user-friendly documentation to be found.
As a complete outsider of the BIC and isolated from the MINC community 
at large, I would have been in deep trouble, if it had not been for 
Jason Lerch (who trained at the MNI), who helped me with finding the 
code, understanding abstruse compiling errors, pointing at known (for 
long-time MINC users) issues, and making everything work seamlessly.

There are a few contributors who are extremely prolific, but as it 
stands now, MINC is a closed community of people who used to know each 
other. As I see it, unless MINC is able to generate a wider interest, it 
will not trigger more development or original contributions. It is a 
more general issue than just deciding where to shift the code development.
That's why I think Louis Collins' offer hits the mark. Increasing the 
end-user base requires an investment in training and tutoring, and may 
require (an) “official” coordinator(s) that deploy(s) resources as seen 
fit by the community.

I am certain that there are a few labs, like mine, who are developing 
with the MINC world and would be happy to contribute, if not with good 
code at least with good documentation, if given a chance to do so in a 
simple and welcoming way.

Just my one cent.
Cheers,
Giovanna.