The Immunogenomics Data Analysis Working Group (IDAWG) is an international collaboration of histocompatibility and immunogenetics investigators who share the goal of making immunogenomic data (HLA, KIR, etc.) more useful across studies and between different groups. In pursuit of this goal, the IDAWG has launched an International Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Workshop (IHIWS) project. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop data-management tools and documentation standards that are tailored to work with the HLA and KIR data-management practices in use by the immunogenetics community. The project will proceed in two phases; the first phase was started in February 2011. Phase One consists of a survey of current HLA and KIR data-management practices. This survey is intended to determine current HLA and KIR data-capture and data transmission standards, current HLA ambiguity resolution practices, and current primary data-analysis methods. The survey includes synthetic datasets, which project participants use to demonstrate their ambiguity resolution and primary data-analysis practices. In order to maximize community involvement, investigators can easily access the survey online (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/IDAWG).

Phase Two of the project, which will begin after the first few surveys are completed, will use the information provided by the community to determine the effects of the various practices in use on common applications for these data, including registry searches, disease-association studies, and population/anthropology studies. The results will be presented at the 16th IHIWS to be held in Liverpool, UK in May 2012.