Dear Colleagues

I welcome all the new members of the list! Currently 96 people have subscribed, that is considerably more than I expected. However, only few people from the NEXUS community have subscribed.

As it should be, the discussion is already in full flow. If those people who have signed up late want to catch up, please can go to the web archive (http://usobi.org/archives/tdwg-sdd.html).

Perhaps we should try to add some more structure (Kevin already made some suggestions), but in any case just keep posting everything you think relevant.

Regarding the general purpose of this list and the manager (Mauro's question), I post the welcome message below. Most of you have already received this, but some early subscribers did not or received an earlier version.

Separate postings with minutes and a provisional outline will follow.

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TDWG-SDD, Discussion List on the Structure of Descriptive Data

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TDWG is the Taxonomic Databases Working Group. The mission of TDWG can be found at http://www.tdwg.org/. The subgroup "Structure of Descriptive Data" was started 1998 at the TDWG meeting in Reading. At the TDWG meeting in Harvard in Oct 1999 it was agreed that the subgroup should attempt to analyze the requirements for a new standard for descriptive data. The metaformat for the standard will probably be based on XML or related formats. It is hoped that this standard will reach universal recognition to become at some point a successor to existing standards like DELTA, NEXUS, or XDF.

The purpose of this discussion list is to foster communication and collaboration among those involved in the creation of a new standard. The new standard should be carefully drafted and agreed upon by consensus.

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---------- If you have any suggestion or additions please send them to me!

---------------------------------------------------------- Inst. for Plant Virology, Microbiology, and Biosafety Federal Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry (BBA) Gregor Hagedorn Net: G.Hagedorn@bba.de Koenigin-Luise-Str. 19 Tel: +49-30-8304-2220 14195 Berlin, Germany Fax: +49-30-8304-2203

Often wrong but never in doubt!