December 2014 - tdwg - lists.tdwg.org

In Memoriam Dr Richard Pankhurst
by Mergen Patricia 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Dear Colleagues, On behalf of TDWG we are very sorry to inform you that Richard John Pankhurst passed away on Tuesday 26 March after fighting oesophageal cancer for many years. He was a very important contributer and friend of TDWG, as can be judged from his short CV from the BioCISE directory: Dr Richard Pankhurst began his career in computing in the computer section at CERN, Geneva in 1963, and moving back to Cambridge to work on Computer-Aided Design in 1966. In 1971 he moved to the Botany School, Cambridge to begin work on his PANKEY programs for identification and key construction. This was continued at the Botany department of the Natural History Museum from 1974 until 1991, where he was for many years curator of the British herbarium, and also worked on the Flora Meso-Americana. "Biological Identification", 1978, was the first textbook on computer methods in identification. A new version of this book was published by C.U.P in 1991. Also published in that year was the Flora of the Outer Hebrides. With over 50 publications of refereed papers and books in the fields of taxonomic computing he has made major contributions to these fields. Dr. Pankhurst has been very active recently in programming and managing botanical databases (Flora Europaea, BSBI database and PANDORA) and systems with images. He was appointed Principal Scientific Officer at the RGB Edinburgh in 1991. Dr. Pankhurst served on various committees of British and international organizations, among others. Botanical Society of the British Isles, Committee for Scotland and Database Committee. Botanical Society of Scotland, Council. Taxonomic Databases Working Group, convener of Descriptors Group. International Organisation for Plant Information, co-convener of Information Systems Committee, Checklist Committee. Dr. Pankhurst was the head of the Department of Taxonomic Computing at RGBE. After his official retirement, he compiled a large database of the Rose family. His work on recording the wild flowers of the Outer Hebrides took him frequently to these remote islands on behalf of the Botanical Society of the British Isles. His interest in Taraxacum (dandelions) was acknowledged when a species found only on St. Kilda was named *Taraxacum pankhurstianum*. In Richard, not only a very important scientist was lost to our community, but also a very pleasant collaborator and friend . <patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be> Dr. Patricia Mergen (General Secretary of TDWG, on behalf of the Executive Committee) Head of Biodiversity Information and Cybertaxonomy Royal Museum for Central Africa Leuvensesteenweg 13 B-3080 Tervuren Belgium + 32 2 769 5 *626* patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be

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DCMI Webinar: Eric Miller on libraries and speaking the language of the Web
by DCMI Announce 30 Dec '14

30 Dec '14

* Apologies for cross-posting * *The Libhub Initiative: Increasing the Web Visibility of Libraries* *DCMI/ASIS&T Joint Webinar* *7 January 2015* ================== *TIME:* 10:00am-11:15am EST (UTC 15:00 - World Clock: http://bit.ly/DCMI-Webinar-Miller) *REGISTRATION:* http://bit.ly/DCMI_Webinar-Miller ================== *Webinar Abstract: * As a founding sponsor, Zepheira's introduction of the Libhub Initiative creates an industry-wide focus on the collective visibility of libraries and their resources on the Web. Libraries and memory organizations have rich content and resources that the Web can not see or use. The Libhub Initiative aims to find common ground for libraries, providers, and partners to publish and use data with non-proprietary web standards. Libraries can then communicate in a way Web applications understand and Web users can see through the use of enabling technology like Linked Data and shared vocabularies such as schema.org and BIBFRAME. The Libhub Initiative uniquely prioritizes the linking of these newly exposed library resources to each other and to other resources across the Web, a critical requirement of increased Web visibility. In this webinar, Eric will talk about the transition libraries must make to achieve Web visibility, explain recent trends that support these efforts, and introduce the Libhub Initiative -- an active exploration of what can happen when libraries begin to speak the language of the Web. *Presenter: Eric Miller* Eric Miller is the President of Zepheira. Prior to founding Zepheira, Eric led the Semantic Web Initiative for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at MIT where he led the architectural and technical leadership in the design and evolution of the Semantic Web. Eric is a frequent and sought after international speaker in areas of International Web standards, knowledge management, collaboration, development and deployment.

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DC-2015 website and call for participation now open
by DCMI Announce 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

*Apologies for cross-posting* *Metadata and Ubiquitous Access to Culture, Science and Digital Humanities* *DCMI 20th Anniversary International Conference & Annual Meeting* *September 1-5, 2015 — São Paulo, Brazil* The Conference website and the call for participation for DC-2015 are now open. *=================* *Conference Website:* http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2015 *Call for Participation:* http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2015/cfp *Track Policies:* http://dcevents.dublincore.org/index.php/IntConf/dc-2015/schedConf/trackPol… *=================* *Abstract: *The need for structured metadata to support ubiquitous access across the Web to the treasure troves of resources spanning cultures, in science, and in the digital humanities is now common knowledge among information systems designers and implementers. Structured metadata expressed through languages of description make it possible for us to 'speak' about the contents of our treasure troves. But, like all human languages, our languages of description both enable and isolate. The push to break out of the isolation of the metadata silos in which professionals inevitably design, implement and manage metadata in order to discover the intersections of our treasure troves drives much of today's discourse and emerging practice in metadata. The emergence of massively integrated Web presences such as Europeana and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) along with the reshaping of public access globally through mechanisms such as Linked Data and schema.org drive our conversations, our excitement, and our fears. *IMPORTANT DATES:* *Technical Program Deadlines: * *Peer-Reviewed Papers, Project Reports & Posters* --*Submission Deadline:* 28 March 2015 --*Author Notification:* 23 June 2015 --*Final Copy:* 28 July 2015 *Professional Program Deadlines* *Special & Panel Sessions* --*Proposal Deadline:* 28 March 2015 --*Author Notification:* 25 April 2015 *Best Practice Posters & Demonstrations* --*Submission Deadline: *14 July 2015 --*Author Notification:* Ongoing *=================* *Join us in São Paulo, Brazil* Each of the past 20 years, the metadata community has gathered for DCMI's conference and annual meeting. The work agenda of the DCMI community is broad and inclusive of all aspects of innovation in metadata design, implementation and best practices. While the work of the Initiative progresses throughout the year, the annual meeting and conference provide the opportunity for DCMI "citizens" as well as newcomers, students, apprentices, and early career professionals to gather face-to-face to share experiences and knowledge. In addition, the gathering provides public- and private-sector initiatives beyond DCMI that are doing significant metadata work to come together to compare notes and cast a broader light into their particular metadata work silos. Through such a gathering of the metadata communities, DCMI advances its "first goal" of promoting metadata interoperability and harmonization. This year, the annual meeting and conference are being hosted by the Universidade Estadual Paulista--São Paulo State University (UNESP) and held in São Paulo, Brazil. *=================* *CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS:* --Universidade Estadual Paulista--São Paulo State University (UNESP) --Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) *=================* *CONFERENCE CHAIRS:* --Plácida Santos, Professor Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Brazil --Silvana Borsetti Gregorio Vidotti, Professor Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Brazil --Flávia Maria Bastos, CGB Coordinator General Coordination of Libraries Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Brazil --Mariana Curado Malta CEISE/ISCAP - Polytechnic of Oporto, Portugal Algoritmi Center - University of Minho, Portugal

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DCMI/ASIS&T Webinar: "The Libhub Initiative: Increasing the Web Visibility of Libraries"
by DCMI Announce 07 Dec '14

07 Dec '14

******************Please excuse the cross postings****************** *DCMI/ASIST Joint Webinar* ==================================================================== :: *Title:* *"The Libhub Initiative: Increasing the Web Visibility of Libraries"* :: *Presenter:* Eric Miller :: *Date:* Wednesday, 7 January 2015 :: *Time:* 10:00am - 11:15am EST (World Clock: 15:00 UTC http://bit.ly/DCMI-Webinar-Miller) :: *Registration:* http://www.asis.org/Conferences/webinars/Webinar-DCMI-1-7-2015-register.html ==================================================================== *ABOUT THE WEBINAR:* As a founding sponsor, Zepheira's introduction of the *Libhub Initiative <http://www.libhub.org/>* creates an industry-wide focus on the collective visibility of libraries and their resources on the Web. Libraries and memory organizations have rich content and resources that the Web can not see or use. The *Libhub Initiative* aims to find common ground for libraries, providers, and partners to publish and use data with non-proprietary, web standards. Libraries can then communicate in a way Web applications understand and Web users can see through the use of enabling technology like Linked Data and shared vocabularies such as schema.org and BIBFRAME <http://www.loc.gov/bibframe/>. The *Libhub Initiative* uniquely prioritizes the linking of these newly exposed library resources to each other and to other resources across the Web, a critical requirement of increased Web visibility. In this webinar, Eric Miller will talk about the transition libraries must make to achieve Web visibility, explain recent trends that support these efforts, and introduce the Libhub Initiative -- an active exploration of what can happen when libraries begin to speak the language of the Web. *SPEAKER:* *Eric Miller* is the President of Zepheira <http://zepheira.com/>. Prior to founding Zepheira, Eric led the Semantic Web Initiative for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at MIT where he led the architectural and technical leadership in the design and evolution of the Semantic Web. Eric is a frequent and sought after international speaker in areas of International Web standards, knowledge management, collaboration, development and deployment. :: For more information and to register, visit the event webpage: http://www.asis.org/Conferences/webinars/Webinar-DCMI-1-7-2015-register.html

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Jobs and internships at CETAF's Secretariat General
by Mergen Patricia 04 Dec '14

04 Dec '14

Dear all We wanted to make you aware of two job openings at the CETAF secretariat. Please find more info at http://www.cetaf.org/about-us/careers and in the two attached files. Deadline to apply is 31st of December. If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact Ana Casino here in copy. Pat

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TDWG Data Quality Interest Group
by Arthur Chapman 02 Dec '14

02 Dec '14

At the last TDWG meeting in Sweden, the *TDWG Data Quality Interest Group* was formally established with Antonio Saraiva and myself as co-conveners. We did not have a lot of time to meet in Sweden, but over 35 people have put their names down as being interested. We know that a lot of you were not able to attend the session n Data Quality because of parallel sessions or because you were not able to get to the TDWG meeting this year. We are looking for more people to work with us so that we can begin to make progress on this very important topic. I would thus encourage you to join the Google discussion group at http://community.gbif.org/pg/groups/21292/gbiftdwg-biodiversity-data-qualit… I would also suggest that you look at some of the talks on Data Quality given at the TDWG meeting - they can be found at https://mbgserv18.mobot.org/ocs/index.php/tdwg/2014/schedConf/presentations At the meeting we decided to set up three sub working groups; viz: . Framework for Communication . Tools, Services and Workflows . Use Case Library/Competency We did not give a lot of thought into the naming of these groups at the time, and that is one topic that needs further discussion. We also need to develop a charter and work plan for the next twelve months for each of these working groups. We also need to appoint a convenor for each working group so that the discussion can be kept rolling. If you are interested and prepared to do this, then please let Antonio or myself know. Further information and discussions will be on the Google Groups so please keep up to date with progress there. Arthur D. Chapman

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