Add docs for setting up a basic mapping commons

mkdocs.yml

@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ nav:
     - Presentations: presentations.md
     - Basic Tutorial: tutorial.md
     - How to use mapping predicates: mapping-predicates.md
+    - Set up a mapping registry/commons: mapping-commons.md
     - Overview of Chaining Rules: chaining_rules.md
     - A basic guide for the SSSOM toolkit: toolkit.md
     - 5-Star Entity Mappings - Cheatsheet: 5star-mappings.md

src/docs/mapping-commons.md

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# How to set up a Mapping Commons
+
+A mapping commons is an open, collaborative space for managing and reconciling mappings. The goal is to collect mappings from a variety of sources into a _mapping set registry_, standardise them into a common representation, curate some basic metrics such as "confidence" (how much does the community managing the commons trust a specific mapping source?) and provenance (where exactly did this mapping come from before it was integrated).
+
+There is no agreed upon standard for mapping registries yet. SSSOM itself provides a [lighweight metadata model for mapping registries](https://mapping-commons.github.io/sssom/) which is, as of August 2023, under active development.
+
+## Typical setup of a mapping commons
+
+We recommend to base your mapping commons on a combination of GitHub (or GitLab) collaborative workflows (issues and discussions for the community, access management etc) and a git repository based on the [Mapping Commons Cookiecutter Template](https://github.com/mapping-commons/mapping-commons-cookiecutter) for version control of the mappings. 
+
+Using the template system above allows you to: 
+
+1. make use of basic CI and quality control for your mappings, 
+2. provides a standard way to document metadata about your mapping sets
+3. provides a basic ETL system based on `gnu make` (which you dont have to use, its just convenient)
+4. Provides a standardised registry format that can be re-used/imported by others.
+
+Examples of Mapping Commons are:
+
+1. https://github.com/mapping-commons/mh_mapping_initiative
+1. https://gitlab.c-path.org/c-pathontology/mapping-commons