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TIME SENSITIVE: 2 Days till TaxonWorks Together 2025!
by Deborah Paul 11 Feb '26

11 Feb '26

Greetings Biodiversity Information Standards TDWG'ers, RE: Just TWO Days till TaxonWorks Together 2025 <https://together.taxonworks.org/> - Registration open and free! May 6 - 8 online. Please remember to share this with colleagues and students not on the TDWG listserv so they don't miss out. Thanks! ‪This year's #TWT2025 offers a wide variety of topics. Perhaps of special interest to the TDWG community: * Building biodiversity informatics tools with the AI-lephant in the room * geoBoundaries: Challenges to curating (and using) global gazetteers - a conversation with Dan Runfola * Stories of (Data) Transition in the Realm of Biodiversity Informatics * Exploring emerging practical informatics needs surrounding the rapidly expanding use of eDNA * Adapting our biodiversity informatics infrastructure to keep pace with the evolution of what we think a taxon is - a conversation with Wayne Maddison * Natural History Collections in TaxonWorks: Entering a Community Consensus Phase Why TaxonWorks as digitization software? Status and vision. Opportunity for questions focusing on digitization functionality. Announcement of *a year-long working group on SpecimenPages*, facilitated by the SFG. * Informatics opportunities integrating field stations and collections, with special reference to the practical needs and opportunities at the Illinois Natural History Survey - a panel with Field Station and Collection Managers: Auriel Fournier, James Lamer, Arianna Kuhn, Enrique Santoyo Brito, and Jamie Minneart-Grote * Why are the Earth's scientific collections important? Perspectives from a catalyzed series of events emerging during COVID 19 - with guests Pam Soltis and Cody Thompson Most sessions are moderated discussions with opportunities for your input. Hear from people that inspire us, and add your voice to the conversation. Check the agenda for more session time and date details <https://together.taxonworks.org/>. We welcome everyone and look forward to your participation and insights. In anticipation, Debbie, for the SFG and TWT2025 /PS -- *please (please) share with your colleagues and students far and wide, thanks!* PPS -- yes there is cross-posting :-)/ -- - Deborah Paul, Biodiversity Informatics Community Liaison - Species File Group (INHS), University of Illinois -- Natural History Collections and Museomics NHCM Editor-in-Chiefhttps://nhcm.pensoft.net -- Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Past Chair 2021-2022 -- Florida State University Courtesy Appointment -- Species File Group and Eventshttps://speciesfilegroup.org

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Public review of Darwin Core conceptual model and data package extended
by Stan Blum 15 Dec '25

15 Dec '25

Discussion of the Darwin Core Data Packages (DwC-DP) proposal has ticked up over the last few weeks, so the ongoing public comment period will continue beyond the originally announced 90 days, which would have ended on December 15. If you are unfamiliar with the functioning of public comment periods for vocabulary changes, please review Section 3.3.2 of the Vocabulary Maintenance specification <https://tdwg.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50f3cc44307841383062ca0d6&id…>. To summarize briefly, if there is dissent about a proposal, the proposal may be modified in an attempt to achieve consensus. Any such modification triggers a reset of a 30 day clock to give people sufficient time to consider the modified proposal. Because of this mechanism, it is possible for a small number of people to delay the acceptance of a proposal that is as large and complex as DwC-DP for a long time. In the case of DwC-DP, there are a large number of smaller individual proposals that are being considered as a package, and modification of any one of the individual proposals will delay the acceptance of the overall package for another 30 days. The Darwin Core Maintenance Group is committed to a fair and open review process of the DwC-DP, and will allow the public review to continue for as long as necessary to achieve consensus. So as long as there is active discussion, we will keep the public comment period open. However, because there is keen interest in the community from people who want to use DwC-DP in ratified form, we'd prefer that the review not drag on indefinitely due to people not getting around to reviewing it in a timely fashion. Therefore, if you have not yet reviewed the proposal, I ask that you do so and submit your comments by January 16. If those comments do not result in any changes in any part of the proposal after that date, the public comment could end on February 15 (30 days later). Continuing discussion after January 16 would cause the comment to continue correspondingly longer, and that's fine if the discussion continues to improve the proposal. We have gotten many excellent and substantive suggestions so far that have improved the proposal, and I am grateful for those who have taken the time to thoughtfully review and comment. I am hopeful that we will soon have a strong final proposal that the Task Group will be able to recommend ratification by the Executive Committee. Sincerely, Steve Baskauf Darwin Core Maintenance Group convener

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you are invited to participate in the Open Data Community Survey 2025
by Daryl Hepting 27 Nov '25

27 Nov '25

Dear All, We are writing to you as researchers from the University of Regina in Regina, Canada who are studying open data. We invite you to participate in the Open Data Community Survey 2025 if you use or provide open data or FAIR data or if you are interested in using semantic metadata to improve the usability of your data. The survey is estimated to take 15-20 minutes to complete, and it is available at the following link:https://uregina.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2ryvDaooieWaAjY Your responses will provide invaluable insights into the state of the open data community in 2025. You may choose to answer as open data user or provider if one of those roles dominates your time or both if they make equal demands of your attention. Please help to improve the power of the survey by sharing this invitation to participate widely within your networks. However, there is no obligation for you to pass along this invitation, and there will be no penalty to you if you do not share it. You can read more about the survey at: https://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting/projects/open-data/community-survey-202… Data from the study will be posted as open data at these locations: * https://<https://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting/projects/open-data/community-survey-202…>www2.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting/projects/open-data/community-survey-2025<https://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting/projects/open-data/community-survey-202…> * https://borealisdata.ca/dataverse/heptingd<https://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting/projects/open-data/community-survey-202…>/ The survey has been approved by the Research Ethics Board at the University of Regina in Regina, Canada. Funding for this survey has been provided by the DDI (Data Documentation Initiative) Alliance, an international collaboration dedicated to developing metadata standards and semantic products for describing social science data, data covering human activity, and other data based on observational methods. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Please note that there are inherent security issues when using email as a communication tool. By default, emails are not encrypted and are vulnerable to interception by outside sources or someone may see that you are involved in this research if you leave your browser open. We will use the phrase “Meeting Reminder” in the subject-line of all email correspondence so you will know the email is from us and recommend you submit any email queries using the same term. Daryl Hepting, Ph.D. daryl.hepting(a)uregina.ca<mailto:daryl.hepting@uregina.ca> Alain Maubert Crotte alain.maubertcrotte(a)uregina.ca<mailto:alain.maubertcrotte@uregina.ca>

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Round-tripping Data Feedback at TaxonWorks Together 2024
by Deborah Paul 26 Nov '25

26 Nov '25

Greetings All, RE: Balancing Global Agency and Local Precision. Roundtrip your feedback at TaxonWorks Together 2024 Presenter: David Shorthouse Where: online, free Register: https://together.taxonworks.org/ When: 8 May 2024 (next Wednesday) at 15:00 UTC (10:00 CDT). Many of us, as data providers and data aggregators need to both give and receive feedback about our data. A new proposed Darwin Core term: feedbackURL could provide a feasible -- actionable -- step forward. See SEE: https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/180 <SEE: https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/180>. If you'd like to learn more about this and how it might work for you, if you'd like to add to the conversation, please join us at TaxonWorks Together for the talk: Balancing Global Agency and Local Precision. Roundtrip your feedback. David Shorthouse presents this topic to share his take and insights on the potential in this term for all of us. It's exciting to be talking about implementing solutions that could help data providers get feedback directly. Hope to see you there! Note there are related sessions you might find interesting: * A Data Quality Round Table Conversation: with GBIF, iDigBio, TaxonWorks, the Paleo Data Working Group, Robert Mesibov, and You o From data quality (e. g. completeness, consistency, compliance), to data management, expect an in-depth congenial local-to-global conversation. From the data aggregator, to the working group, the researcher, the collection / data manager, and the data analyst, what do we each experience, what do we dream of? How is data-quality an outcome of processes? Looking for alignment opportunities. * A Look Inside One’s (TaxonWorks) Data o What’s in those buckets anyway in your database fields? How do you know where to find issues? When and how do you find snafus and how do you fix them? We explore the promise of the new Project vocab and Field Synchronize tasks in TaxonWorks. What are your processes and needs for doing this work to enhance and extend your data? How has the evolution of TaxonWorks illuminated outstanding data-quality challenges and what does it offer to make it eas(ier) to address them? + (pssst: if you know you me, you'll have heard me talk about visualizing the data in your databases, come see to get a taste of what this is making possible). Your questions, welcome. Looking forward to seeing you there! In anticipation, Debbie Paul, for the SFG and TaxonWorks Together 2024 - Deborah Paul, Biodiversity Informatics Community Liaison - Species File Group (INHS), University of Illinois -- Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Past Chair 2021-2022 -- Florida State University Courtesy Appointment -- Species File Group and Eventshttps://speciesfilegroup.org

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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 19 Nov '25

19 Nov '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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There's Still Time for DEMO Camp at SPNHC-TDWG2024
by Deborah Paul 18 Apr '24

18 Apr '24

Greetings Everyone, RE: *DEMO Camp* at SPNHC-TDWG2024 Headed to SPNHC-TDWG2024 in-person or virtually? Got a new software tool, services, workflows, or methods to share? There's still time to submit an abstract (just 300 words) describing your Live Demo (no recordings, no slides). Demo Camp <https://www.tdwg.org/conferences/2024/sessions/#demo01-democamp-live-demons…> details and more about the (easy!) submission process <https://www.tdwg.org/conferences/2024/oa-abstract-submission-guidelines/>. Questions welcome. Deadline is tomorrow at 19 April 2024 11:59 HST <https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=OA+Abstract+submi…>. > Since its debut at SPNHC 2009, DemoCamp has provided a venue for > developers, biodiversity informaticians, digitization managers, and > collection managers to convene and share innovative approaches for the > use of technology to enhance the management and use of natural history > collections. Presentations demonstrate the use of software, tools, > services, and workflows that enhance capacity, use global standards, > and extend the accessibility and quality of information. See you at DEMO Camp! Debbie Paul, Jason Best, Erica Krimmel -- - Deborah Paul, Biodiversity Informatics Community Liaison - Species File Group (INHS), University of Illinois -- Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Past Chair 2021-2022 -- Florida State University Courtesy Appointment -- Species File Group and Eventshttps://speciesfilegroup.org

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Humboldt Extension Public Review 2023-09-04
by John Wieczorek 02 Oct '23

02 Oct '23

The members of the Darwin Core Maintenance Group is happy to announce the opening of a minimum 30-day period for public review for a set of proposed new terms that are meant to embody the Humboldt Extension for ecological inventories coming out of research and discussions in the Humboldt Extension Task Group <https://www.tdwg.org/community/osr/humboldt-extension/>, ably led by convener Yanina Sica over the past three years. Please refer to the documentation we have provided on the review process and the maintenance of the Darwin Core standard in general at https://github.com/tdwg /dwc/wiki/Darwin-Core-Maintenance-Frequently-Asked-Questions. The relevant issues for commentary on terms are listed in the following milestone: https://github.com/tdwg/hc/milestone/1. Any other comments not related to the individual terms can be added by creating a new issue <https://github.com/tdwg/hc/issues/new?milestone=Public+Review+Humboldt+Exte…> . Your comments are welcome and important for the evolution of the Darwin Core standard and its extensions. Thank you, The Humboldt Extension Task Group The Darwin Core Maintenance Team

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Opening: Chief Data Officer at Smithsonian
by Pilsk, Suzanne 18 Aug '23

18 Aug '23

Sorry for any duplication I'm just the messenger. Please share to help Smithsonian get the best qualified applicants. Thanks Office of Digital Transformation has started the search for a Chief Data Officer All: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/743322800 Federal: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/743327800 Short summary of the role: The Chief Data Officer (CDO) reports to the Head of Digital Transformation (HDT) and is responsible for the Smithsonian Institution's (SI) data strategy, including Smithsonian-wide governance and utilization of information as an asset, via data collection, processing, analysis, mining, information trading, and other means.

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Darwin Core Public Commentary 2023-06-20: Material Sample
by John Wieczorek 20 Jun '23

20 Jun '23

The members of the Darwin Core Maintenance Group are happy to announce the opening of a minimum 30-day period for public review for a set of proposed changes to Darwin Core coming out of research and discussions in the Material Sample Task Group <https://www.tdwg.org/community/osr/material-sample/>, ably led by Teresa Mayfield-Meyer over the past two years. Please refer to the documentation we have provided on the review process and the maintenance of the Darwin Core standard in general at https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/wiki/Darwin-Core -Maintenance-Frequently-Asked-Questions. For your reference and convenience we are providing a table with links to the proposed changes, organized in keeping with the order in the Darwin Core Quick Reference Guide (https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/) The relevant issues are also listed in the following milestone: https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/milestone/18. Your comments are welcome and important for the evolution of the Darwin Core standard. Thank you, The Darwin Core Material Sample Task Group The Darwin Core Maintenance Team Category Term Issue Action Nature Record-level references https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/456 change non-normative Record-level basisOfRecord https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/457 change non-normative MaterialEntity https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/426 new normative MaterialSample https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/451 change normative MaterialEntity materialEntityID https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/455 new normative MaterialEntity preparations https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/452 change normative MaterialEntity disposition https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/453 change normative MaterialEntity verbatimLabel https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/458 change non-normative MaterialEntity materialEntityRemarks https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/461 new normative GeologicalContext earliestEonOrLowestEonothem https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/465 change normative GeologicalContext latestEonOrHighestEonothem https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/474 change normative GeologicalContext earliestEraOrLowestErathem https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/467 change normative GeologicalContext latestEraOrHighestErathem https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/476 change normative GeologicalContext earliestPeriodOrLowestSystem https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/469 change normative GeologicalContext latestPeriodOrHighestSystem https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/478 change normative GeologicalContext earliestEpochOrLowestSeries https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/466 change normative GeologicalContext latestEpochOrHighestSeries https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/475 change normative GeologicalContext earliestAgeOrLowestStage https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/464 change normative GeologicalContext latestAgeOrHighestStage https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/473 change normative GeologicalContext lowestBiostratigraphicZone https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/479 change normative GeologicalContext highestBiostratigraphicZone https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/472 change normative GeologicalContext lithostratigraphicTerms https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/462 change normative GeologicalContext group https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/471 change normative GeologicalContext formation https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/470 change normative GeologicalContext member https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/480 change normative GeologicalContext bed https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/463 change normative GeologicalContext dwciri:earliestGeochronologicalEra https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/468 change normative GeologicalContext dwciri:latestGeochronologicalEra https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/477 change normative MeasurementOrFact https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/459 change normative ResourceRelationship https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/460 change normative

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Darwin Core Public Commentary 2023
by John Wieczorek 13 Feb '23

13 Feb '23

Celebrating Darwin Day, the members of the Darwin Core Maintenance Group are happy to announce the opening of a minimum 30-day period for public review for the set of proposed changes to Darwin Core. Please refer to the documentation we have provided on the review process and the maintenance of the Darwin Core standard in general at https://github.com/tdwg /dwc/wiki/Darwin-Core-Maintenance-Frequently-Asked-Questions. For your reference and convenience we are providing a table with links to the proposed changes, organized in keeping with the order in the Darwin Core Quick Reference Guide (https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/) The relevant issues are also listed in the following milestone: https://github.com/tdwg /dwc/milestone/14. Your comments are welcome and important for the evolution of the Darwin Core standard. Thank you The Darwin Core Maintenance Team Category Term Issue Action Nature Record-level institutionID https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/406 <https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/336> change non-normative Record-level collectionID https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/406 change non-normative Record-level basisOfRecord https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/416 change non-normative Occurrence organismQuantity https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/423 change non-normative Occurrence organismQuantityType https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/424 change non-normative Occurrence caste https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/412 new normative Occurrence vitality* https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/363 new normative MaterialSample verbatimLabel https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/32 new normative Event eventType https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/408 new normative Event eventTime https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/407 change non-normative Location continent https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/393 change non-normative Location countryCode https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/394 change non-normative Location stateProvince https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/395 change non-normative Location stateProvince https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/401 change non-normative Location municipality https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/397 change non-normative Location county https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/396 change non-normative Location coordinateUncertaintyInMeters https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/422 change non-normative Location pointRadiusSpatialFit https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/419 change non-normative Location footprintSpatialFit https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/420 change non-normative Identification verbatimIdentification https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/392 change non-normative Taxon namePublishedInID https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/405 change non-normative Taxon scientificName https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/388 change non-normative Taxon scientificName https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/391 change non-normative Taxon namePublishedIn https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/405 change non-normative Taxon superfamily https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/65 new normative Taxon tribe https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/45 new normative Taxon subtribe https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/46 new normative Taxon infraspecificEpithet https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/387 change non-normative Taxon taxonRank https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/390 change non-normative MeasurementOrFact parentMeasurementID https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/362 new normative MeasurementOrFact measurementUnit https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/409 change non-normative ResourceRelationship relationshipOfResource https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/400 change non-normative dwciri: dwciri equivalents https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/379 change non-normative MaterialCitation https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/372 change normative DwC Archive meta.xml filename https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/144 change non-normative * Note that the vitality term proposal also comes with a set of five controlled vocabulary terms (see https://github.com/tdwg/rs.tdwg.org/blob/vitality/process/page_build_script…) which are also part of the public review.

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