[Tdwg-phylo] survey & report (publishing trees) - nearing release, need collaborators

Arlin Stoltzfus arlin at umd.edu
Thu Feb 3 21:09:14 CET 2011


Dear all--

After months of effort by a dedicated few (Jamie Whitacre & I), we are  
near to releasing a preliminary report on current best practices for  
publishing phylogenetic trees (1), and a survey designed to complete  
the report and assess user needs (2).  The draft report is a product  
of the TDWG phylogenetic standards interest group, while the survey is  
from the MIAPA list participants.

Its a great time to be doing this.  Ready or not, in the next few  
years, the phylogenetics community is going to be forced (by journal  
policies) to archive tens of thousands of trees.  Ideally, we can use  
this opportunity to catch a wave of interest in archiving, synthesis,  
and integration, and leverage the power of this wave to gain funding  
and to energize a community effort.

But, to be successful, this is going to require more of a team effort.

I'm excited about this project, but before I will commit to going  
ahead with it, I need commitments from 6 people, each one willing to  
dedicate 15 hours (over the next 6 weeks) to disseminate the survey,  
analyze results, and follow up on feedback and queries.  These 6  
people will be authors on the final published report on best practices  
for publishing a phylogenetic tree, and will have any other advantages  
that accrue from being part of this effort.

Let me know if you want to be one of those people.  Regards,

Arlin

(1) http://wiki.tdwg.org/twiki/bin/view/Phylogenetics/LinkingTrees2010
(2) https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&pli=1&formkey=dHhZa0xMQTJuR0ZCZWxoV2JSTG13b2c6MQ 
#gid=0

-------
Arlin Stoltzfus (arlin at umd.edu)
Fellow, IBBR; Adj. Assoc. Prof., UMCP; Research Biologist, NIST
IBBR, 9600 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD
tel: 240 314 6208; web: www.molevol.org



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