October 2020 - tdwg-content

New controlled vocabularies and terms added to Audubon Core
by Baskauf, Steven James 29 Oct '20

29 Oct '20

On 2020-10-13, the Executive Committee approved three new Audubon Core terms: ac:freqHigh, ac:freqLow, and the imported term mo:sample_rate. These terms will allow Audubon Core to better express terms related to sound recordings. Three new controlled vocabularies were also approved at that time. They were controlled vocabularies for ac:variant, ac:subtype, and dcterms:format (as well as their literal valued analogs). These controlled vocabularies should allow media producers and consumers to more unambiguously express the nature of the content they provide/consume. To view these new terms and vocabularies, visit the following list of terms documents: http://rs.tdwg.org/ac/doc/termlist/ http://rs.tdwg.org/ac/doc/subtype/ http://rs.tdwg.org/ac/doc/variant/ http://rs.tdwg.org/ac/doc/format/ One of our goals for the near future is to make translations of the controlled vocabularies available to the community. If you have the technical knowledge to translate any of these controlled vocabularies into any non-English language, please contact me to talk about how to make that happen. Thanks to the Audubon Core Maintenance Group for its work to make these changes a reality! Steve Baskauf Audubon Core Maintenance Group convener -- 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 TDWG Executive Committee Nominations (2021-2022)
by Quentin Groom 28 Oct '20

28 Oct '20

Dear All, just a reminder that nominations are open for the TDWG Executive Committee (2021-2022). All the details can be found here https://www.tdwg.org/news/2020/call-for-nominations/ Positions are open for the Deputy Chair, Chair of the Functional Subcommittee for Communications and Outreach, Chair of the Functional Subcommittee for Funding and Partnerships, Africa Representative, Asian Representative, North American Representative and the European Representative. If you are even curious about the posts please feel free to contact anyone on the current Executive Committee who will be only too willing to discuss the positions and possible roles you could play ( https://www.tdwg.org/about/executive/). The deadline to receive nominations is the 16 November 2020. Regards Quentin Groom

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Species establishment terms added to Darwin Core Standard
by John Wieczorek 24 Oct '20

24 Oct '20

Dear all, On 13 October the Executive Committee approved the recommended changes to the Darwin Core associated with species establishment. As of 21 October the Darwin Core standard and associated documentation (including the Quick Reference Guide - https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/) have been updated to include: dwc:degreeOfEstablishment ( https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#dwc:degreeOfEstablishment) (new, with controlled vocabulary) dwc:pathway (https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#dwc:pathway) (new, with controlled vocabulary) dwc:establishmentMeans (https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#dwc:establishmentMeans) (change in definition, with controlled vocabulary) as well as the IRI versions of these same terms in the dwciri: namespace for use in RDF. Utility files with the horizontal (1 row) and vertical (1 column) term name lists can be found and downloaded from the DarwinCore Github site at https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/tree/master/dist. Enjoy the richer capacity to share species establishment information! John (on behalf of the Darwin Core Maintenance Interest Group)

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TDWG workshop report: BioCASe and IPT
by Tim Robertson 13 Oct '20

13 Oct '20

Dear all, (Cross posting to multiple lists, so my apologies if you receive this more than once) During the TDWG Working Group sessions we held two virtual workshops to capture ideas and hold discussion around the future of the BioCASe and GBIF IPT tools. Thank you to the many people who presented and contributed in the discussion and to the hard work behind the scenes by the TDWG organizers. I am happy to share the workshop report summarizing discussion points, attached as PDF and online on Google https://tinyurl.com/tdwg-2020-IPT-BPS-report Best wishes, Tim

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Request for public comment on Darwin Core proposals
by John Wieczorek 02 Oct '20

02 Oct '20

The Darwin Core Maintenance Group is pleased to announce the opening of a 30 day review period (ending 30 September) and seek your feedback for the following changes to Darwin Core that are of particular interest to those documenting evidence of invasive and introduced species: - Change the definition of establishmentMeans ( https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/235 <https://tdwg.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50f3cc44307841383062ca0d6&id…> ) - Add two new terms: pathway https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/236 <https://tdwg.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50f3cc44307841383062ca0d6&id…>) and degreeOfEstablishment (https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/237 <https://tdwg.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50f3cc44307841383062ca0d6&id…> ) - Add controlled vocabularies to use with these three terms ( https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/257 <https://tdwg.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50f3cc44307841383062ca0d6&id…> , https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/258 <https://tdwg.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50f3cc44307841383062ca0d6&id…> , https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/259 <https://tdwg.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50f3cc44307841383062ca0d6&id…> ) Please leave comments on the issues linked above. If you are unable or prefer not to create GitHub comments, send them to the Maintenance Group convenor at gtuco.btuco(a)gmail.com. They will be added to the issues on your behalf, crediting you as the source. About the Process: Because the Vocabulary Maintenance process is being put into effect publicly for only the second time, and the first time for Darwin Core, it is worthwhile to call out from the TDWG Vocabulary Maintenance Specification (http://rs.tdwg.org/vms/doc/specification/#33-changes-to-vocabulary-terms <https://tdwg.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50f3cc44307841383062ca0d6&id…>) how this works and where we are in the process. "*Because the primary purpose of TDWG vocabularies is to facilitate data sharing, it is necessary to show that multiple parties will benefit from the change. As such, it is a minimum requirement that two independent entities indicate that they desire the change (the demand requirement). Additionally, it is required that there is a consensus within the community that the proposed change will accomplish the desired outcome (the efficacy requirement), and that making the change will not adversely affect the interoperability of existing implementations that depend on the stability of the vocabulary (the stability requirement).*" The *demand requirement* has already been met and documented in the issues. We are now interested in finding consensus in confirming the *efficacy* and *stability requirements*. This brings us to the public review, commencing with this announcement. The steps, from the Specification, are as follows: " *If the maintaining Interest Group determines that the proposed term change is likely to meet the demand, efficacy, and stability requirements, it will conduct a minimum 30 day comment period. The start of the comment period will be announced on the TDWG email list [TDWG-CONTENT]. In an effort to reach consensus, the proposal may be modified based on discussion during the comment period. Consensus is indicated by no dissenting opinion expressed publicly on the mailing list for 30 days from the most recent modification of the proposal. The term change proposal may be modified by its submitter or the Interest Group in an attempt to shape a proposal that can achieve community consensus. A change in the official proposal will trigger the start of a new 30 day period.If the Interest Group believes that a consensus has been reached, the proposal will be presented by the Interest Group to the Executive Committee for a decision.*" We look forward to your participation in this community process.

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