Here is the second question.  The proposal proposes a new MaterialSample class
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/MaterialSample
which is in the "main" (dwc:=http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/ ) namespace.  I guess my question is why we need this class.  I can definitely see a rational for a new class defined as part of the DwC type vocabulary (i.e. dwctype:MaterialSample).  It would be used to type resources that are material samples.  But the class terms in the main (dwc:) namespace are used as a convenient way to group DwC property terms that might reasonably be used with instances of that class.  However, there really aren't any such terms. 

We already have a convention in which not every type vocabulary class term has a corresponding class term in the main (dwc:) namespace.  There are dwctype:PreservedSpecimen, dwctype:LivingSpecimen, dwctype:FossilSpecimen, dwctype:HumanObservation, dwctype:MachineObservation, and dwctype:NomenclaturalChecklist, none of which have dwc: namespace analogues.  So why does MaterialSample need a dwc: namespace analog? 

Steve

John Wieczorek wrote:

Dear all,

TDWG could see a lot of activity in 2013 in anticipation of the meeting in Florence in October. Much of the activity is related to enabling integration across multiple parts of our domain. We have the Audubon Core under review for biodiversity-related media and an impending RDF Guide to supplement the already extant Text and XML Guides for Darwin Core.

This message is to bring your attention to another integrative initiative, to introduce terms into Darwin Core that will form a nexus between Occurrences and the interesting things that happen with physical materials that result from them, such as, but not limited to, genetic sequencing. A series of meetings for a little over the past year have inspired our colleagues in the Genomics Standards Consortium (GSC) to propose to their constituency to align their terms with Darwin Core, including adopting some of the Darwin Core terms in place of their own that have the same meaning. Out of these discussions has come the realization that neither community has terms to accommodate the concept of an identifiable (objectively, not taxonomically), trackable material sample.  This message constitutes such a proposal.

This proposal would have no impact on those publishing purely taxonomic data. It would also have no impact on those publishing occurrence data unless they want to increase their capacity to distinguish material samples from organisms more rigorously than is now possible using only the dwc:preparations term.

The initial request for new terms can be found in the Darwin Core Issue tracker as http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=167. Below I have elaborated nad formalized the request into the three distinct terms under consideration, initiating the 30 day minimum public review process to seek consensus on their inclusion in the Darwin Core standard. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to discuss the merits or any perceived problems in the inclusion of these three terms in Darwin Core.

Below I will give the proposed properties of three terms as they would appear in the Darwin Core Quick Reference Guide, though these properties would be included in the RDF of the normative form of the documentation.

A new MaterialSample class: This is for the purpose of organizing properties, just as the existing classes (Occurrence, Event, Location, GeologicalContext, Identification, Taxon, etc.) do, without having any terms declare this class as their domain.

Term Name: MaterialSample
Identifier: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/MaterialSample
Namespace: http:/rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms
Label: Material Sample
Definition: The category of information pertaining to the physical results of a sampling (or subsampling) event. In biological collections, the material sample is typically collected, and either preserved or destructively processed, with the intention of being representative of a greater whole.
Comment: For discussion see http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/MaterialSample (this page will not exist until the term is ratified).
Type of Term: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class
Refines:
Status: proposed
Date Issued: 2013-03-28
Date Modified: 2013-04-08
Has Domain:
Has Range:
Version: MaterialSample-2013-03-28
Replaces:
IsReplaceBy:
Class:
ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD (someone please confirm or deny this)

A Darwin Core Type Vocabulary value for basisOfRecord is needed to represent this new class of information. Luckily, a term already exists in the Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (http://www.ontobee.org/browser/rdf.php?o=OBI&iri=http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/OBI_0000747). We and the GSC both propose to reuse this class within Darwin Core as below, making it the cross-ver point between the two domains.

Term Name: MaterialSample
Identifier: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/MaterialSample
Namespace: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/OBI_0000747
Label: material sample
Definition: A material entity that has the material sample role
Comment: For discussion see http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/DwCTypeVocabulary (there will be no further documentation here until the term is ratified)
Type of Term: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class
Refines:http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/OBI_0100051
Status: recommended
Date Issued: 2013-03-28
Date Modified: 2013-03-28
Has Domain:
Has Range:
Version: MaterialSample-2013-03-28
Replaces:
IsReplaceBy:
Class:
ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD

In keeping with all other classes in Darwin Core, the Material Sample class would have a corresponding identifier property. The Genomics Standards Consortium (GSC) is in the process of proposing this term. If it is accepted, we propose to use it, and its properties would be as below, otherwise, the properties would be the same, but have the Darwin Core namespace and identifier URI.

Term Name: materialSampleID
Identifier: http://gensc.org/ns/mixs/materialSampleID
Namespace: http://gensc.org/ns/mixs
Label: Material Sample ID
Definition: An identifier for the MaterialSample (as opposed to a particular digital record of the material sample). In the absence of a persistent global unique identifier, construct one from a combination of identifiers in the record that will most closely make the materialSampleID globally unique.
Comment: For discussion see http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/MaterialSample (this page will not exist until the term is ratified).
Type of Term: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#Property
Refines: http://purl.org/dc/terms/identifier
Status: proposed
Date Issued: 2013-03-28
Date Modified: 2013-04-08
Has Domain:
Has Range:
Version: materialSampleID-2013-03-28
Replaces:
IsReplaceBy:
Class: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/OBI_0000747
ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD (someone please confirm or deny this)

-- 
Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences

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