January 2020 - tdwg-content

Re: [tdwg-content] If you need something for referring to a population, then it is probably best to do it as a related class
by Nico Franz 05 Jun '25

05 Jun '25

Hello all: I have a few inserted comments, hopefully with some clarifying effect: On 5/4/2011 10:54 AM, Peter DeVries wrote: > Hi Steve, > > I may have overloaded the term specimen to make the explanation easier > to follow. > > A specimen could be an individual or it could be part of an individual. > > To some extent you need to think about how these models will be used. > > If you subscribe to the model that a species is whatever a taxonomists > says it is then it is difficult to make statements like. > > X% of the world's species will be extinct by 2050. > > If you mean a species as defined by the concept documented at this URI > which is supported by these specimens, images, and DNA then you are on > firmer ground. > > Species in the natural world do a pretty good job recognizing those > individuals that are appropriate mates. In other words members of > their own species. > > Are we modeling species or variations in human conceptualizations of > species? > >> Assuming that there was only one individual organism identified >> there is really one one species (or hybrid). > Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Please Nico C., don't take this one up! > > > I stick with this. Assuming you don't have a hybrid individual. That > individual is one species. The fact that human may disagree on what > species it is a human issue. > > Again, Are we modeling species or variations in human > conceptualizations of species? NMF: I believe there is a history of biodiversity database engineering that actually led some people, initially in Australia (Greg Whitbread?) and Europe (Berendsohn's group) to place more emphasis on modeling human conceptualizations of taxa. I understand this happened in the late 80s / early 90s. The motivation was, apparently, that no long-term consensus seemed available to model a single and sufficiently widely accepted taxonomy of, say, Central European vascular plant species or mosses. I believe that projects such as the Euro + Med PlantBase (http://www.emplantbase.org/home.html) are examples of the persistence (success?) of this 20+ year old practice. I think this is the kind of background that Steve is referring to. > > Which of these is of primary importance to decision makers and > non-taxonomist biologists? > Part of the problem with various publications relating to ontologies > and taxonomy is that their species models entail a specific > phylogenetic hypothesis. > > In the real world taxa are not as clean as some would like to make > them out to be. > > Each individual is a unique combination of thousands of separate gene > lineages which often do not follow clean monophyletic paths. > > I would argue that most of those who work with species related data > see them as useful typological constructs which in general follow the > biological species model. NMF: The solution of how to properly model things such as species in RDF, OWL (etc.) should ideally accommodate all "species concepts" (BCS, ESC, PSC, GSC, there's dozens), i.e. it should be neutral towards this issue. The examples below are too simple, ignoring for example cases such as pro parte synonymy, or a concept ("species") that appears unique and monophyletic to one author but (vastly) polyphyletic to another. To do an accurate mapping in that latter case (which is not super-common but it's real), I think one would have to come down on saying we're modeling human conceptualizations. They are not just that, so really it's not a strict dichotomy, meaning that by modeling conceptualizations we do not have to say "the species only exist on our heads", or "well, then anything goes". I agree (sheepishly) that it does come down to what the input data look like, and what the expectations are towards just accommodating the user community versus pushing them in a particular direction. Some of this also on p. 47 of this PDF: https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/jbi/article/view/3927/3852 > > /Aedes triseriatus/ owl:sameAs /Ochlerotatus triseriatus/ > > Others seem to see them as phylogenetic end nodes which entail a > specific phylogenetic history. > > /Aedes triseriatus/ distinctFrom /Ochlerotatus triseriatus/ > / > / > If you are primarily interested in understanding issues of ecology, > disease, diversity and conservation the former model is more > appropriate than the later. > > Respectfully, > > - Pete Regards, Nico Nico M. Franz, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Director, UPRM Invertebrate Collection Department of Biology University of Puerto Rico Call Box 9000 Mayagüez, PR 00681-9000 Phone: (787) 832-4040, ext. 3005 Fax: (787) 834-3673 E-mail: nico.franz(a)upr.edu Laboratory website: http://academic.uprm.edu/~franz/ UPRM-INVCOL: http://uprm-invcol-project.tumblr.com/

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[US2TS 2020] Early Registration Extended for the U.S. Semantic Technologies Symposium 2020
by Hilmar Lapp 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

3rd U.S. Semantic Technologies Symposium 2020 9 – 11 March 2020, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. US2TS 3rd Call for Early Registration ===================================== ** Registration ===================================== Early Registration deadline: February 6, 2020 Registration link: http://us2ts.org/registration Deadline for Travel Awards: February 4, 2020 Deadline for Discounted Hotel Rates: February 16, 2020 The sessions and lightning talks that will be held during the 3rd U.S. Semantic Technologies Symposium 2020 event, with speakers and tentative details, are available at https://us2ts.org/program. These sessions cover diverse topics on Hybrid AI, Knowledge Graph Trends, Enterprise Semantic Data, and Semantic Web Tools. We are also pleased to announce that Dr. Louiqa Raschid will present one of the keynotes at US2TS 2020. At this stage, travel support awards are available to students (graduate and undergraduate), postdocs, and early-career professionals (within 1 year of receiving their highest degree). Please visit https://us2ts.org/travel-awards for more information. ===================================== ** Calls for Late-Breaking Lightning Talks and Posters ===================================== We also invite submissions for Late-Breaking Lightning Talks to be held during US2TS 2020. The call for lightning talks will remain open until all the available slots are filled. ** More Details: https://us2ts.org/cfc#lightning-talks ** Submission Website: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=us2ts2020 (choose “Lightning Talk” as topic) We also invite participants to present a poster on their research or software applications. Please indicate during registration if you are going to present a poster at the symposium. ===================================== ** About US2TS ===================================== The US2TS Symposium series is an emerging premier forum for fostering community between academic, industry, and government researchers and practitioners in the US that develop or apply semantic technologies. The interest in semantics has been strengthened by the growing dependence on the Web and the continuously increasing importance of large-scale data sharing, integration, and reuse. Participants at the US2TS come from disciplines in computer science and engineering, natural sciences, geoscience, biology, library science, biomedical and health care sciences, social sciences and the humanities, and many others. Discussions at the symposium cover core topics such as the Semantic Web, Ontologies, Knowledge Graph, Linked Data and AI on the Web, Privacy and Trust, etc., as well as the intersection of such topics with areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchains. ===================================== ** Contact ===================================== All inquiries, including questions about submissions should be emailed to contact us at 2020-org AT us2ts DOT org You are also welcome to join our social network on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13783135/ We look forward to your great contributions and participation. See you all on March 9 - 11, 2020, in Raleigh, NC! ===================================== ** Sponsors ===================================== US2TS 2020 would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. The following sponsors have expressed their financial support for US2TS 2020. Social Event Sponsor: LexisNexis Platinum Sponsors: Raytheon BBC Technologies Standard Sponsors: Bosch, Data.World Please read more to know about US2TS Sponsorship Packages at https://us2ts.org/sponsors.

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New version of Audubon Core released
by Baskauf, Steven James 29 Jan '20

29 Jan '20

The 2020-01-27 version of Audubon Core has been released by the Audubon Core Maintenance Group. This is the first revision of the Audubon Core standard since its ratification in 2013. The changes made in this version have been primarily to clarify term metadata and clean up the documents containing normative content. Any implementers of Audubon Core should carefully read the release notes at https://github.com/tdwg/ac/blob/master/historical/release-notes-2020-01-27.… Steve Baskauf, Audubon Core Maintenance Group convener on behalf of the group -- Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D. Data Science and Data Curation Specialist Jean & Alexander Heard Libraries, Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 37235, USA Office: Eskind Biomedical Library, EMB 111 Phone: (615) 343-4582 https://my.vanderbilt.edu/baskauf/

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Call for Abstracts: Visions Needed for SPNHC Symposium on the Evolution of Collections Management
by Deborah Paul 09 Jan '20

09 Jan '20

Happy New Year 2020 to all TDWG folks! RE: seeking abstracts for SPNHC 2020 symposium RE: the Evolution of Collections Management and the Biodiversity Data Lifecycle * Do you expect your biocollections (or related) job/career to be the same in 5 to 10 to 50 years? * In an idea future world, what are the roles and desires of biocollections professionals and institutions? * What needs can you foresee now for biocollections software, data and specimen storage and access, staffing, hardware, leadership? * Do you have a vision for the future of biocollections management in the biodiversity data lifecycle, and the leadership and resources we need to achieve it? At SPNHC and ICOM NATHIST 2020 (in June 2020), we have one open session in the symposium "S7.1 Evolution of Collections Management and the Biodiversity Data Lifecycle." We are inviting speakers to share their ideas. Interested in submitting an abstract? Please: 1. read the entire symposium abstract<http://www.spnhc-icomnathist2020.com/s7-1envisioning-collections-management…> for details 2. send us any questions 3. register to attend SPNHC 2020 (http://www.spnhc-icomnathist2020.com/registration/) and submit your abstract here (http://www.spnhc-icomnathist2020.com/abstract-submissions/) In search of inspiration, wisdom, and imagination, The S7.1 Planning Team Please Note: Successful abstracts will be visionary and inspiring, looking to the future and not contemplating the issues of today (i.e., not a whine/whinge fest) ;-) -- -- Upcoming iDigBio Events https://www.idigbio.org/calendar -- Deborah Paul, iDigBio Digitization and Workforce Development Manager iDigBio -- Steering Committee Member SPNHC Liaison, Member-At-Large and Member International Relations Committee SYNTHESYS3 Representative, ICEDIG External Advisory Board Member Vice Chair, Biodiversity Information Standards Organisation (TDWG)(2019-2020) Managing Editor BISS https://biss.pensoft.net/board/ Institute for Digital Information, 234 LSB Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32306 850-644-6366

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