Dear TDWG TNC Member,
We plan to hold a group discussion about the "Species Profile Model" SPM (previously known as "Taxon Data Model") at the TDWG 2007 conference, possibly on Sunday 16th during the group meetings slot (09.00-17.00). We are trying to gauge interest and potential numbers and to avoid clashes with other parallel discussions that might be taking place.
The SPM is intended to describe species facts (organised into categories) as might appear in "species bank" type web applications like Encyclopedia of Life or FishBase/SeaLifePortal.
We do not intend to duplicate the work of TCS and SDD for nomenclature and taxonomy but rather draw on them, and other TDWG standards, wherever appropriate. We want it to fit in with the TDWG technical architecture and will work closely with all concerned to do this. It seemed to us that the SPM was sufficiently distinct to warrant set up a new group within TDWG with cross linkages to other groups where appropriate.
For a background, see the wiki here: http://wiki.tdwg.org/TaxonDataModel, and the summary of a recent workshop held at GBIF here: http://wiki.tdwg.org/twiki/bin/view/TaxonDataModel/SpeciesModelWorkshopRepor t.
You can subscribe to the taxon-data-model mailing list here to follow developments and contribute: http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/taxon-data-model (mailing list information web page) taxon-data-model@lists.tdwg.org mailto:taxon-data-model@lists.tdwg.org (mailing list web address)
Please reply to me directly to let me know if you are interested in attending the SPM workgroup during the TDWG conference. At this stage it is purely to get a rough indication of numbers so there is no real commitment required on your part.
Best regards,
Éamonn
________________________________________________________________ Éamonn Ó Tuama, Ph.D. (eotuama@gbif.org), Senior Programme Officer for Data Access & Database Interoperability (DADI), Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, DENMARK Phone: +45 3532 1494; Fax: +45 3532 1480