July 2001 - tdwg-content - lists.tdwg.org

Re: Announcement of the I3C (but where are the taxonomists?)
by Vincent, Leszek 27 Jul '01

27 Jul '01

Dear TDWG folk The note below caught my interest in that I'm a taxonomist/plant systematist by vocation and am currently working in the area of ontology and controlled vocabulary development for monocots & dicots (this is an extension of the Gene Ontology paradigm - see: www.geneontology.org). Lest you're feeling hopeless about the lack of taxonomists represented in this area of endeavor (which overlaps I think with the I3C - I need to study it's mandate further), there is my voice along with those of several other biological ontologists who are collaborating with me. The relevance & inputs from taxonomy/systematics are already being realised amongst some of my colleagues - so there's hope. I'd argue that at least one taxonomist has already got his 'sleeves rolled up' (IMHO) & is working with other colleagues with similar goals (as being focused on by the I3C group). We're hoping to form the Plant Ontology Consortium to extend our tools, paradigm & 'influence', for the benefit of the users of plant-based databases. Regards, - Leszek Vincent xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox P. Leszek D. Vincent Ph.D., FLS Plant Science Unit, Dept. of Agronomy, 209 Curtis Hall, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211-7020, USA. Ph: (573) 884-3716 (Agronomy), Fax:(573) 884-7850; Ph/Fax (Home): (573) 441-1228; Email: Leszek(a)missouri.edu Plant Systematist on the Maize Mapping Project - NSF award 9872655 - (http://www.cafnr.missouri.edu/mmp/ and http://www.agron.missouri.edu/) xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox > -----Original Message----- > From: Eric Zurcher [mailto:Eric.Zurcher@PI.CSIRO.AU] > Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 9:45 PM > To: TDWG-SDD(a)USOBI.ORG > Subject: Announcement of the I3C (but where are the taxonomists?) > > > >This newsgroup might not be quite the correct forum for the > following, but > >as there has been no activity of late, I hope I will be forgiven. > > At the end of June, the formation of the Interoperable Informatics > Infrastructure Consortium (I3C for short) was announced. So > what is it? The > I3C's own material states "The I3C's mission is to facilitate > and enable > data exchange, data management, and knowledge management > across the entire > life science community by promoting common protocols that ensures > interoperability in an open, consistent and robust manner." > The "common > protocols" are largely XML based. See > http://i3c.open-bio.org/ for details. > > Unfortunately, the "entire life science community" does not, > at least at > this stage, appear to include taxonomists. The emphasis is strongly on > genomics, with a substantial side interest in drug discovery. > Nevertheless, > this effort might be worth watching. It includes a number of > heavyweights > from the IT industry (IBM, Sun, Oracle), along with major players in > pharmaceuticals and genomics, so there're a lot of resources > to draw from. > Whether their efforts might someday extend to include > taxonomy, and whether > taxonomists can learn from this initiative, remains to be > seen. But that > mission statement does sound remarkably like that of TDWG... > > > > Eric Zurcher > CSIRO Livestock Industries > Canberra, ACT Australia > E-mail: Eric.Zurcher(a)pi.csiro.au >

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Re: Announcement of the I3C (but where are the taxonomists?)
by Donat Agosti 25 Jul '01

25 Jul '01

Why aren't we trying to hook us onto this bandwagon? I think we do have a real strong case with our systematics to make to be included in any of such a system! Why just be passive? Why not draft a little memo to get in touch with them, explaining what we do, how we could complement their efforts. If they are in drug recovery, a good systematics is, or will become a very important tool for them, as well as easily accessible description of taxa, synonymies, distribution patterns and models. Why be shy - we all think, we are important - so confess and come out! donat agosti antbase.org ----- Original Message ----- From: Eric Zurcher <Eric.Zurcher(a)PI.CSIRO.AU> To: <TDWG-SDD(a)USOBI.ORG> Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 5:45 AM Subject: Announcement of the I3C (but where are the taxonomists?) > >This newsgroup might not be quite the correct forum for the following, but > >as there has been no activity of late, I hope I will be forgiven. > > At the end of June, the formation of the Interoperable Informatics > Infrastructure Consortium (I3C for short) was announced. So what is it? The > I3C's own material states "The I3C's mission is to facilitate and enable > data exchange, data management, and knowledge management across the entire > life science community by promoting common protocols that ensures > interoperability in an open, consistent and robust manner." The "common > protocols" are largely XML based. See http://i3c.open-bio.org/ for details. > > Unfortunately, the "entire life science community" does not, at least at > this stage, appear to include taxonomists. The emphasis is strongly on > genomics, with a substantial side interest in drug discovery. Nevertheless, > this effort might be worth watching. It includes a number of heavyweights > from the IT industry (IBM, Sun, Oracle), along with major players in > pharmaceuticals and genomics, so there're a lot of resources to draw from. > Whether their efforts might someday extend to include taxonomy, and whether > taxonomists can learn from this initiative, remains to be seen. But that > mission statement does sound remarkably like that of TDWG... > > > > Eric Zurcher > CSIRO Livestock Industries > Canberra, ACT Australia > E-mail: >

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Re: Announcement of the I3C (but where are the taxonomists?)
by Leigh Dodds 25 Jul '01

25 Jul '01

Hi, As an outside observer it seems like there's two approaches, to either develop something as a grass-roots community effort and build running code/consensus, and then work upwards to standardisation. Or begin with a formal consortium and beginning defining standards with code to follow. The chemical community has taken the former approach, and have been quite successful. http://xmlhack.com/read.php?item=1315 Cheers, L.

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Announcement of the I3C (but where are the taxonomists?)
by Eric Zurcher 24 Jul '01

24 Jul '01

>This newsgroup might not be quite the correct forum for the following, but >as there has been no activity of late, I hope I will be forgiven. At the end of June, the formation of the Interoperable Informatics Infrastructure Consortium (I3C for short) was announced. So what is it? The I3C's own material states "The I3C's mission is to facilitate and enable data exchange, data management, and knowledge management across the entire life science community by promoting common protocols that ensures interoperability in an open, consistent and robust manner." The "common protocols" are largely XML based. See http://i3c.open-bio.org/ for details. Unfortunately, the "entire life science community" does not, at least at this stage, appear to include taxonomists. The emphasis is strongly on genomics, with a substantial side interest in drug discovery. Nevertheless, this effort might be worth watching. It includes a number of heavyweights from the IT industry (IBM, Sun, Oracle), along with major players in pharmaceuticals and genomics, so there're a lot of resources to draw from. Whether their efforts might someday extend to include taxonomy, and whether taxonomists can learn from this initiative, remains to be seen. But that mission statement does sound remarkably like that of TDWG... Eric Zurcher CSIRO Livestock Industries Canberra, ACT Australia E-mail: Eric.Zurcher(a)pi.csiro.au

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