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- What is bioinformatics?
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- Managing and sharing data
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Controlled vocabularies
Controlled vocabularies define specific words to reduce ambiguity and duplication.
Do we really need controlled vocabularies?
Controlled vocabularies in bioinformatics
Controlled vocabularies are a vital ingredient for annotating data stored in databases.
In contrast to completely free text entry, controlling the vocabulary helps computers and humans to categorise information and helps reduce redundancy and errors. Whenever you select from a list of prescribed terms, for example choosing an airport when booking a flight, you are using a controlled vocabulary.
Biological databases use several different types of controlled vocabularies, which will be discussed in the next sections.