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Donald,<br>
<br>
With respect to your second paragraph, the proposed Darwin Core RDF
Guide [1] purposefully avoids getting entangled in issues of defining
exactly what the Darwin Core classes are and how they are related to
each other. To put it in other words, it does not define object
properties connecting the main Darwin Core classes. The guide
restricts itself to spelling out how users can express Darwin Core
properties from the main vocabulary as RDF in a consistent way. <br>
<br>
Creating properties to describe the normalized relationships is an
important task, but is left to another layer that could be built on top
of the Guide and which requires additional consensus building as to how
those relationships should be modeled. Alternatively, there could be
several models and procedures could be established for converting from
one to the other. But the guide stays out of this and sticks with the
basics (as you say, avoids getting distracted).<br>
<br>
Steve<br>
<br>
[1] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://code.google.com/p/tdwg-rdf/wiki/DwcRdf">http://code.google.com/p/tdwg-rdf/wiki/DwcRdf</a><br>
<br>
Donald Hobern [GBIF] wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:012101cec9ab$665dd8a0$331989e0$@gbif.org"
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Thanks,
Steve.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Taking
this back to the concerns, I raised at the beginning, I think my
concern can best be expressed by the fact that the rdf:type for many
published records is not easily defined (or at least leads to arguments
about whether some of the available data elements can properly apply to
an object of that class). I think the majority of our records are best
seen as a denormalised view of a join between instances of different
classes rather than as an instance of a class.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Your
comments in your other messages about on-going TDWG work on ontologies
are much appreciated. I would like to see that work carrying through
to accepted recommendations and for the main Darwin Core vocabulary for
the time being not to get distracted by whether the associated records
are Events, Occurrences, MaterialSamples or whatever.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Thanks
again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><br>
Donald<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"
lang="EN-US">----------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"
lang="EN-US">Donald Hobern - GBIF Director - <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:dhobern@gbif.org"><span style="color: blue;">dhobern@gbif.org</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"
lang="EN-US">Global Biodiversity Information Facility <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.gbif.org/"><span
style="color: blue;">http://www.gbif.org/</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"
lang="DA">GBIF Secretariat, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen
Ø, Denmark<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"
lang="EN-US">Tel: +45 3532 1471 Mob: +45 2875 1471 Fax: +45 2875 1480<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"
lang="EN-US">----------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; color: windowtext;"
lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; color: windowtext;"
lang="EN-US"> Steve Baskauf [<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:steve.baskauf@vanderbilt.edu">mailto:steve.baskauf@vanderbilt.edu</a>] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, October 14, 2013 12:45 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Donald Hobern [GBIF]<br>
<b>Cc:</b> 'Richard Pyle'; 'TDWG Content Mailing List'; 'Chuck Miller'<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [tdwg-content] A plea around basisOfRecord (Was:
Proposed new Darwin Core terms - abundance, abundanceAsPercent)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Donald,<br>
<br>
With regards to the uncertainty about the meaning of dwc:basisOfRecord,
the proposed Darwin Core RDF Guide attempts to inject clarity into the
situation. It does so in two ways:<br>
<br>
1. It allows dwc:basisOfRecord to be used with literal (text) values to
allow existing implementations to expose whatever values they currently
have for that term. However, it specifies that rdf:type should be used
exclusively as the property for specifying URI-reference values
intended to indicate the type of the subject resource. [1] There is
some ambiguity about what the subject is of a dwc:basisOrRecord
property (the resource, or the record about the resource?). However,
there is no similar ambiguity about rdf:type which always serves to
indicate the class of which the subject resource is an instance.<br>
<br>
2. It specifies that classes in the Darwin Core Type vocabulary
namespace (dwctype: = <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/dwctype/">http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/dwctype/</a>
) should be used for typing resources in the biodiversity domain rather
than any corresponding classes in the main Darwin Core namespace (dwc:
= <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/">http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/</a>
). [2] In other words, if given the choice between dwc:Occurrence and
dwctype:Occurrence, use dwctype:Occurrence. The guide proposes to add
to the type vocabulary any classes which exist in the dwc: namespace
and not in the dwctype: namespace (e.g. dwc:Identification). The
intention is that the DwC type vocabulary would be what it's name
suggests: the vocabulary for describing types. There are some issues
involving the current definitions in the type vocabulary, which I won't
go into in this email. As Rich said earlier, this is a topic for one
of the Documenting Darwin Core sessions at the meeting.<br>
<br>
Although these guidelines would hold force specifically for RDF
implementations, this is a convention that could be followed in other
implementations. <br>
<br>
Steve<br>
<br>
[1] <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://code.google.com/p/tdwg-rdf/wiki/DwcRdfGuideProposal#2.3.1.4_Other_predicates_used_to_indicate_type">http://code.google.com/p/tdwg-rdf/wiki/DwcRdfGuideProposal#2.3.1.4_Other_predicates_used_to_indicate_type</a><br>
[2] <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://code.google.com/p/tdwg-rdf/wiki/DwcRdfGuideProposal#2.3.1.5_Classes_to_be_used_for_type_declarations_of_resources_de">http://code.google.com/p/tdwg-rdf/wiki/DwcRdfGuideProposal#2.3.1.5_Classes_to_be_used_for_type_declarations_of_resources_de</a><br>
<br>
Donald Hobern [GBIF] wrote: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Thanks, Rich.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Very pleased to see this. With this
encouragement, I'll say just a little bit more about why I think this
is a critical need.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I see the model I describe as the perfect
real-world realisation of most of the key components in the GBIO
Framework (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.biodiversityinformatics.org/">http://www.biodiversityinformatics.org/</a>),
as follows:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"
style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">Everyone zips up
whatever data they have from each resource (databases, field
instruments, sequencers, data extracted from literature, checklists,
whatever) into a DwC Archive using whatever DwC elements they can for
data elements and describing other elements not currently recognised in
DwC (the GBIO DATA layer)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"
style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">These archives
should be placed in repositories that offer basic services (DOIs,
annotation services, etc.) (the GBIO CULTURE layer)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"
style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">Harvesters assess
the contents of each archive and determine what views can be supported
from the supplied elements (occurrence records for GBIF, name usage
records, species interactions, etc.) and catalogue these views in
relevant discovery indexes (GBIF, Catalogue of Life, TraitBank, etc.)
(the GBIO EVIDENCE layer)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"
style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">Users can at any
time annotate elements in the archives to provide mappings for
(potentially more recently defined) DwC or other properties, opening up
new options for reuse<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Donald<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">----------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Donald Hobern - GBIF Director - <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:dhobern@gbif.org">dhobern@gbif.org</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Global Biodiversity Information Facility <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.gbif.org/">http://www.gbif.org/</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="DA">GBIF Secretariat,
Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Tel: +45 3532 1471 Mob: +45 2875 1471 Fax:
+45 2875 1480<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">----------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Richard Pyle [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:deepreef@bishopmuseum.org">mailto:deepreef@bishopmuseum.org</a>]
<br>
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 6:49 PM<br>
To: 'Donald Hobern [GBIF]'; 'TDWG Content Mailing List'<br>
Cc: 'Chuck Miller'<br>
Subject: RE: [tdwg-content] A plea around basisOfRecord (Was: Proposed
new Darwin Core terms - abundance, abundanceAsPercent)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hi Donald,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">MANY thanks for this! And you are certainly
not alone in your concerns about these issues. In fact, we have
planned a Symposium for “Documenting DarwinCore”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">(<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://mbgserv18.mobot.org/ocs/index.php/tdwg/2013/schedConf/trackPolicies"><span
style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">https://mbgserv18.mobot.org/ocs/index.php/tdwg/2013/schedConf/trackPolicies</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">#track11), and one of the four sessions
(Session 3, to be precise) of the symposium focuses exactly on this
issue of basisOfRecord/dcterms:type/etc.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Another session (Session 2) will focus on
proposed and perhaps-to-be-proposed new classes (Individual,
MaterialSample, Evidence), and will start out with a series graphs
illustrating the existing high-level ontology and possible alternative
high-level ontologies, as you indicate in your items 3 & 4.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Aloha,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Rich<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<pre>-- <o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre>
<pre>postal mail address:<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>PMB 351634<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Nashville, TN 37235-1634, U.S.A.<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre>
<pre>delivery address:<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>2125 Stevenson Center<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>1161 21st Ave., S.<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Nashville, TN 37235<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre>
<pre>office: 2128 Stevenson Center<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>phone: (615) 343-4582, fax: (615) 322-4942<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>If you fax, please phone or email so that I will know to look for it.<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu">http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu</a><o:p></o:p></pre>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences
postal mail address:
PMB 351634
Nashville, TN 37235-1634, U.S.A.
delivery address:
2125 Stevenson Center
1161 21st Ave., S.
Nashville, TN 37235
office: 2128 Stevenson Center
phone: (615) 343-4582, fax: (615) 322-4942
If you fax, please phone or email so that I will know to look for it.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu">http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu</a>
</pre>
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