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Profiles

Read About Profiles -- the Harvard Catalyst's social networking site.
Find information about people's institutions in the Atlas.

About Profiles



Introduction


Profiles is the social networking website of the Harvard Catalyst. It not only shows traditional directory information, but also illustrates how each person is connected to others in the broad research community.

When you view a person's profile, three types of information are displayed:
  1. Managed Descriptions

    2. This is the typical information listed in a research profile, including name, titles, affiliation, phone number and email address. Faculty can edit their own profiles, adding publications, awards, narrative, and a photo.

  2. Passive Networks

    3. Passive networks are formed automatically when faculty share common traits such as being in the same department, working in the same building, co-authoring the same paper, or researching the same topics (as defined, for example, by the "MeSH" keywords or other keywords assigned to their publications). The passive networks a person belongs to are shown on the right side of the page when viewing a profile.

  3. Active Networks

    4. Active networks are the ones that you define. When users who login to the website view other people's profiles, they can mark those people as collaborators, advisors, or advisees. In other words, you can build your own network of people that you know. Currently, you can only see the networks that you build. In the future you will be able to share these lists with others. Active networks are shown on your left sidebar.

Who is listed in Profiles?


The first faculty members included in Profiles were Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine faculty listed in the HMS Whitepages. We recently added faculty from the Harvard School of Public Health. We expect to expand Profiles to include other populations in the future. For HMS/HSDM faculty, listing in White Pages and Profiles is automatic and based on maintaining an active faculty appointment; removal occurs only upon termination or retirement form the faculty appointment.

Who can view Profiles?


This website is open to the general public. However, people with an HMS eCommons account or relevant HUID privileges can login for additional features, such as active networking, which is described above.

How do I edit my Profile?


To edit your profile, click the Edit My Profile link on the sidebar. You might be prompted to login with your HMS eCommons or Harvard PIN account. Your profile is divided into several sections: basic information, photo, awards and honors, narrative, and publications. You can display or hide each section, except basic information, by clicking the hide/show links. You can also edit the content in the awards, narrative, and publications sections. Basic information can only be edited from the HMS Whitepages or PeopleSoft Self Service websites. The ability to upload a custom photo is coming soon. If you have additional questions about your basic information, please contact:
To view your profile as others see it, click the View My Profile link on the sidebar.

What are the sources of data for this website?


All data shown by default on this website are currently available on other public websites. Directory information was obtained from the University's PeopleSoft system, which feeds the HMS Whitepages and central Harvard Directory, and publications and keywords were copied from PubMed. If faculty had previously entered publications into FIRST, then a one-time copy of those publications were also added to this website. If faculty had previously entered awards and narratives into FIRST, then one-time copies of that information were also added to this website's database. However, this information is only displayed on the website if those faculty members have approved its inclusion. Default photos are from Harvard IDs, but faculty must also approve the use of those before they are shown on this website. Lists of co-authors and similar people are derived automatically from publications, and the department and neighbor lists are determined automatically from directory information.

Why are there missing or incorrect publications in my profile?


Publications are added both automatically from PubMed and manually by faculty themselves. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to match articles in PubMed to the profiles on this website. The algorithm used to find articles from PubMed attempts to minimize the number of publications incorrectly added to a profile; however, this method results in some missing publications. Faculty with common names or whose articles were written at other institutions are most likely to have incomplete publication lists. We encourage all faculty to login to the website and add any missing publications or remove incorrect ones. Questions regarding publications can be directed to ctsc@hms.harvard.edu

How frequently are the data on this website updated?


Directory information, such as names, titles, affiliations, and contact information is automatically updated nightly from changes made in the University's PeopleSoft system. Passive networks, such as keywords and similar people, are automatically updated nightly. Publication data that is automatically derived from PubMed is updated approximately every three months; however, we plan to increase the frequency of these updates. Faculty can edit portions of their profiles at any time.

Can I edit my keywords, co-authors, or list of similar people?


These are derived automatically from the PubMed articles listed with your profile. You cannot edit these directly, but you can improve these lists by keeping your publications up to date. Please note that it takes up to 24 hours for the system to update your keywords, co-authors, and similar people after you have modified your publications. Keyword rankings and similar people lists are based on algorithms that weigh multiple factors, such as how many publications you have in a subject area compared to the total number of faculty who have published in that area. Your feedback is essential to helping us refine these algorithms. A future version of this website will allow users to add custom keywords to their profiles, but these will be separate from the automatically derived terms.

Who created Profiles?


Profiles is based on the research of Griffin Weber, MD, PhD, and implemented by the Harvard Medical School Information Technology Department. The current and past members of the development team include Nick Benik, Paul Gomez, Ken Huling, Melissa Kenny, Kevin Laitinen, Kellie Lucy, Krishna Nellutla, Rob Piscitello, George Rakauskas, Jeff Rosen, Franco Valentino, Marlon Violette, and Griffin Weber. This website would not have been possible without the amazing work done over many years by Susan Vomacka (HMS Whitepages) and Mortimer Litt, MD, (FIRST).