Meta (academic company)
{{Short description|Artificial intelligence company}}
{{Distinguish|Meta Platforms|Meta (augmented reality company)}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Meta ULC
| logo = Meta Logo Black.svg
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| services = Scientific knowledge network powered by machine intelligence
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| founded = 2009
| founders = Sam Molyneux, Amy Molyneux
| defunct = {{End date|2022|03|31}}
| location_city = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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| area_served = Academia, government, publishing, industry
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| num_employees = 350
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| homepage = {{URL|meta.org}}
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Meta ULC was a Canadian unlimited liability corporation performing big data analysis of scientific literature, which was acquired by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and shut down in 2021, effective in 2022.
History
=Beginning=
Meta Inc., formerly Sciencescape Inc.,{{Cite web|title = Meta Launches Universal Machine Intelligence Platform to Unite the Fragmented Scientific Information Ecosystem|url = http://www.marketwatch.com/story/meta-launches-universal-machine-intelligence-platform-to-unite-the-fragmented-scientific-information-ecosystem-2015-11-03|website = MarketWatch |date=November 3, 2015 |access-date = May 8, 2018}} was founded in 2010 by Sam and Amy Molyneux. Before co-founding Meta, Sam Molyneux studied cancer genomics at the Ontario Cancer Institute at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. The service was developed with the intention of curating the millions of articles in the area of academic publishing.
The company was headquartered in Redwood City, California{{citation|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/01/25/chan-zuckerberg-lease-redwood-city-lane-partners.html|title=Chan Zuckerberg Initiative signs lease in Lane Partners' new Redwood City building|publisher=San Francisco Business Times|date=January 25, 2017|access-date=October 31, 2018}} (formerly Toronto, Ontario, Canada{{citation|url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/16/sciencescape-wants-to-solve-academic-research-discoverability-deal-with-the-noise-problem/|title=Sciencescape Wants To Solve Academic Research Discoverability, Deal With The Noise Problem|publisher=TechCrunch|author=Darrell Etherington|date=June 16, 2013|access-date=January 12, 2014}}) and operated Meta Science, a literature discovery platform.{{citation|url=https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/17/sciencescape |title=Sciencescape aims to sift through snowballing science research|publisher=Wired.co.uk|access-date=January 12, 2014}}{{citation|url=http://www.itbusiness.ca/news/sciencescape-cataloguing-research-papers-everywhere-one-essay-at-a-time/36336|title=Sciencescape cataloguing research papers everywhere, one essay at a time|publisher=itbusiness.ca|author=Candice So |date=June 13, 2013|access-date=January 12, 2014}}{{citation|url=http://marscommons.marsdd.com/the-data-visualizers/sciencescape|title=The Data Visualizers|publisher=MaRS Commons Magazine|access-date=January 12, 2014}}
As of September 2016, Meta had analyzed over 26 million papers and profiled 14 million researchers.{{citation|url=http://meta.com/about|title=About Meta|publisher=Meta|date=September 13, 2016|access-date=September 13, 2016}} Using natural language processing, Meta scans articles - as well as the millions of articles stored in open-access repositories - collecting information about authors, citations and topics. Participating publishers receive exposure for their journals in return.{{citation|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/10/start-sees-data-analytics-information-overload-cure-researchers-publishers/|title=Predictive Analytics for Publishing|publisher=Inside Higher Ed|author=Carl Straumsheim|date=May 10, 2016|access-date=September 12, 2016}} These include the American Medical Association, BioMed Central, Elsevier, Karger, SAGE Publishing, Taylor & Francis, Wolters Kluwer, and the Royal Society.{{citation|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/70118-digital-solutions-in-india-2016-big-data-and-ai-with-meta.html|title=Digital Solutions in India 2016: Big Data and AI with Meta|publisher=Publishers Weekly|author=Teri Tan|date=April 29, 2016|access-date=September 12, 2016}}{{citation|url=http://meta.com/partners|title=Partners|publisher=Meta|date=September 12, 2016|access-date=September 12, 2016}} The technology for the platform was developed via a joint partnership between Meta and SRI International.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/01/25/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-meta-ai.html|title=Chan Zuckerberg Initiative makes first buy, a Canadian artificial intelligence startup |website=www.bizjournals.com |date=January 26, 2017 |access-date=2018-03-16}}
=Merge with Chan Zuckerberg Initiative=
Meta merged with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in 2017, marking the Initiative's first acquisition.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/23/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-meta/|title=Chan Zuckerberg Initiative acquires and will free up science search engine Meta – TechCrunch |website=techcrunch.com|date=23 January 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-14}}
=Shutdown=
On October 28, 2021, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announced the sunset of Meta, with a proposed shutdown date of March 31, 2022.{{citation|url=https://cziscience.medium.com/meta-transition-5f66b1fae475|title=Meta Transition|author=Chan Zuckerberg Science Initiative|access-date=October 28, 2021}}
Features and specifications
Meta includes coverage of the biomedical sciences with real-time updates from PubMed and other sources.{{citation|url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/13/extreme-startups-demo-day-wrap-up-canadian-startups-make-a-strong-showing/|title=Extreme Startups Demo Day Wrap Up: Canadian Startups Make A Strong Showing|publisher=TechCrunch|author=Darrell Etherington|date=June 13, 2013|access-date=January 12, 2014}} The website provides access to over 22 million papers with publication dates as early as the 1800s.{{citation|url=http://hazmanlabs.com/blog/2013/06/sciencescape-a-new-kid-on-the-block/|title=Sciencescape -- A new kid on the block|publisher=Hazman Labs, inc|author=Hazman Aziz|date=June 26, 2013|access-date=January 12, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703144352/http://hazmanlabs.com/blog/2013/06/sciencescape-a-new-kid-on-the-block/|archive-date=July 3, 2013}}{{citation|url=http://technogiants.net/2013/06/sciencescape-in-the-future-of-scientific-research/ |title=Sciencescape in the Future of Scientific Research|publisher=TechnoGiants|author=Vaibhav|date=June 18, 2013|access-date=January 12, 2014}} By sifting through papers and learning from user behavior, the service pinpoints key pieces of research and provides relevant search results. Meta also provides visualizations about a field of research by organizing papers by their date of publication and citation count and then presenting the information in a way that allows users to quickly identify key historical papers.
The Meta Science research platform uses algorithms that allow users to sort new publications according to subject matter. Users can subscribe to feeds for areas of research including biology, genes, diseases, genetic disorders, drugs, people, labs & institutes, and journals.{{citation|url=http://business.financialpost.com/2013/06/13/tech-companies-make-final-pitches-at-extreme-startups-2013-demo-day/|title=Tech companies make final pitches at Extreme Startups 2013 demo day|publisher=Financial Post|author=Mashoka Maimona|date=June 13, 2013|access-date=January 12, 2014}}{{citation|url=http://sciencescape.org/under-the-hood|title=Under The Hood|publisher=Sciencescape.org|access-date=January 12, 2014}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://meta.org}}
{{Online social networking}}
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