The MOD must address the needs of the general research community as well as the specialized organism community. Doing so requires outreach to the broader community and is also likely to involve alternative data views without jargon. Such outreach might include demonstrations at a range of scientific meetings and live on-line classes for scientists at their home institutions. On the Reproductive, Senescence, and Death Phases of the MOD Life Cycle MODs are not static or immortal. Over time even a successful MOD may find it efficient to transfer some types of information to a central database, or it may become so large and cumbersome that it proves necessary to divide it into smaller projects.
MODs have to be able to change as needed.
MODs are complicated projects and can run into difficulties for many reasons. The workshop did not come to any explicit conclusions on how to achieve early detection and therapy, but part of the answer is to encourage critical and constructive review by the external advisory committees. Another part may be mechanisms that encourage interaction among the existing databases, such as periodic MOD workshops or visitor programs. A workshop would allow the database providers to talk freely about problems as well as solutions, which is essential for improving MOD projects through cooperative efforts. Computer experts are in great demand.