SCAsource is a website where research on ataxias is written in plain language by scientists. The goal of SCAsource is to make research more readily accessible and understandable to ataxia patients and families.
SCAsource is entirely run by volunteers, primarily graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Project coordinators are Celeste Suart and Dr. Hayley McLoughlin.
AGI aims to contribute to the goals of SCAsource, and invites you to contribute to this website as a volunteer writer or translator. You can find more information about this process below.
Additionally, SCAsource is looking for ataxia research labs to be profiled on their website. Start the process of having a profile written about your lab by filling out this form.
SCAsource is looking for volunteers to write articles for their website and translators to include articles in other languages than English.
There are two types of articles:
- Article Summaries, where primary research articles are recapped in a clear and accessible manner.
- SCAsource Snapshots, where one specific scientific topic or concept is explained in 600 words or less.Here is a brief overview of the process for volunteering for SCAsource: After you are added to the volunteer roster, you’ll receive an email at the beginning of every other month with a link to an article sign-up sheet. This includes a list of all articles SCAsource is interested in having written. You may also receive an email directly asking you to write/edit a particular article based on your expertise. The email will include the deadlines for the two-month writing cycle (3 weeks to write the initial draft, 2 weeks for the editor to provide feedback, 2 weeks for the final version from the writer).
Volunteering for SCAsource is quite flexible. There are some volunteers who participate once or twice a year, then others much more frequently. SCAsource has tried to design the sign-up system so that people can participate when they have time and can easily step back when science & other priorities need to take precedence.
If you are interested in volunteering with SCAsource after reading this, please fill out the following Google Form.