[tdwg-content] Public Review of the Darwin Core 'standard'

[Kevin Richards]

I'm not sure if this is my misunderstanding of RDF and ontologies, so correct me if I am wrong...

I noticed that the http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/geoReferencedBy property has domain http://purl.org/dc/terms/Location.
Is this the standard way of working with Dublin Core?
I would have though it would be better to define a "common" person/agent type property (or better still reuse FOAF or DC Agent types - http://purl.org/dc/terms/Agent).  This property has no range and can therefore be applied to any RDF class/element.  This would remove the need for repetitive elements that refer to Agent type properties, eg geoReferenceBy, identifiedBy, measurementDeterminedBy, etc.

This was part of the intention of the TDWG Common Vocab. (http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/Common.rdf), which brings me to my next question - how do the DwC terms relate to the TDWG ontology? - do we need a "mapping" to them?  I suppose, because the DwC ontology needs to be ratified as a standard, it can't really rely on an un-ratified ontology - but it would be good to specify how the two should work together, or map to each other.

Otherwise I think this is looking excellent - a fantastic step towards an overarching ontology for TDWG data objects.

Kevin


-----Original Message-----
From: tdwg-bounces at lists.tdwg.org [mailto:tdwg-bounces at lists.tdwg.org] On Behalf Of Lee Belbin
Sent: Saturday, 11 July 2009 11:09 a.m.
To: tdwg at lists.tdwg.org; Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: [tdwg] TDWG: Public Review of the Darwin Core 'standard'

Apologies for cross posts - and please feel free to distribute this
announcement to all relevant communities.

TDWG is pleased to announce the commencement of the Public Review of Darwin
Core - a standard for sharing biodiversity information. You will find the
proposed standard is a living document with a history, an anchor in the
Dublin Core, and mechanisms to grow and change. Since being officially put
forward as a draft standard in February 2009, Darwin Core has undergone a
peer review, a review by the TDWG Executive, and multiple revisions.

Open Invitation: We invite all who may contribute and/or consume
biodiversity information to examine this proposed standard during the Public
Review period from 11th July through at least 10th  August 2009.

How to Participate: Visit the Darwin Core Progress site
(http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/DarwinCoreProgress) for the latest
background information on the process and critical links to content
(http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/index.htm) and participation.  To discuss ideas with
others or offer comments that are not targeted for action, please subscribe
(http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/tdwg-content) and contribute to the
tdwg-content mailing list (tdwg-content(at)lists.tdwg.org).  Recommended
actions or issues should be submitted to the Issue Tracker of the Darwin
Core (http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/SubmittingIssues) so that
they may be assigned, prioritized, and tracked.  This Public Review process
will be archived along with all other documentation in the TDWG Standards
Track.  Questions about the process should be directed to the Review
Manager, Gail Kampmeier (gkamp(at)illinois.edu).

Please share this opportunity for public comment and review with others you
think may be interested.

Acknowledgements: As Review Manager, I would like to express my gratitude to
the authors, John Wieczorek, (MVZ), Markus Döring (GBIF), Renato De Giovanni
(CRIA), Tim Robertson (GBIF), Dave Vieglais (KUNHM) for the enormous efforts
made in bringing the Darwin Core standard to this point; to the initial
anonymous peer reviewers, and to Lee Belbin and the rest of the TDWG
Executive for their advice, support, and encouragement in this process; and
to GBIF for tipping the scales by bringing together the authors in a
workshop that led to this submission.

Links expanded:
Darwin Core Progress -
http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/DarwinCoreProgress
Darwin Core content - http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/index.htm
Subscribe to tdwg-content  -
http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/tdwg-content
Issue Tracker - http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/SubmittingIssues

Related Links:
TDWG: http://www.tdwg.org/
Other TDWG Standards: http://www.tdwg.org/standards/
TDWG Standards Track (in OJS): http://www.tdwg.org/stdtrack/index
Dublin Core's Metadata Initiative in Science:
http://ils.unc.edu/spaces/sam/index.php/Main_Page

Sincerely,
Gail E. Kampmeier, Review Manager
Illinois Natural History Survey, Institute of Natural Resource
Sustainability, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1816 South Oak
St., Champaign, Illinois 61820 USA email: gkamp(at)illinois.edu


Lee Belbin
TDWG Secretariat


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