(Note that the issue we are trying to address and the standards we try to bring to bear here are closely related to what we discussed at the workshop and the conference session in Perth. If you are interested in participating, I'd encourage you to apply! -hilmar)

NESCent Hackathon on Evolutionary Database Interoperability

OPEN CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent; http:// nescent.org) is sponsoring an "Evolutionary Database Interoperability" hackathon aimed at enhancing the value (and raising the profile) of important community resources for evolutionary and biodiversity data by increasing their accessibility to users and software. We are broadly soliciting applications for participation from the community. More information about the event is available online at http://evoinfo.nescent.org/Database_Interop_Hackathon .

A hackathon is an event at which a group of programmers who otherwise do not have the opportunity to interact on a routine basis meet with users and domain experts to collaboratively develop working code that is of utility to the community as a whole. The Database Interoperability Hackathon will bring together developers from a number of emerging standards for evolutionary data exchange (NeXML; http://nexml.org ), data and metadata semantics (CDAO; http://www.evolutionaryontology.org ), and programmatic access of evolutionary data providers (PhyloWS; http://evoinfo.nescent.org/PhyloWS) with database programmers and metadata experts from a variety of evolutionary and biodiversity community resources. In addition, the mix of people will include programmers of embeddable widgets, mash-up and aggregation applications that can showcase the value of the effort for research applications.

We also welcome comments and suggestions for issues in database interoperability that could be addressed at the event but are not yet on our radar. Please email the organizers at hackathon3@nescent.org with any suggestions you have.

GOALS AND ACTIVITIES

The focus of the programming aspect of the meeting will be to promote interoperability among online evolutionary databases through the following core set of activities. 1) Mapping the data and operation semantics of the participating online resources to an ontology, CDAO. 2) Implement a NeXML transformation for participating online resources as a formally defined query input and data output. 3) Implementation of programmable web-service interfaces following the emerging PhyloWS standard. 4) Showcase some of the possibilities that can arise from achieving data provider interoperability through small integration and/or mash- up oriented prototype applications.

Supporting activities will include discussing input from end-users, discussing compliance with emerging reporting standards (MIAPA) and documentation of solutions and open problems on the hackathon wiki.

ORGANIZATION

The event will be 5 days in duration and will take place at NESCent in Durham, North Carolina, on March 9-13, 2009. Participant travel, accommodation, expenses for meals, etc, will be paid by NESCent. Logistical and travel details will be communicated to accepted and confirmed participants.

The specific development targets will be selected by the participants through a hackathon wiki, a mailing list, and one or more conference calls. The exact agenda for the event will be developed similarly, but will be largely devoted to coding time. At the event itself, participants will self-organize into small subgroups (of 2-5) focused on particular targets.

The NeXML, CDAO, and PhyloWS standards are products of the Evolutionary Informatics working group (http://evoinfo.nescent.org), under the auspices of whom this event is being organized.

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

We invite all individuals interested in attending to apply by responding to the questions below. We specifically encourage applications from members of underrepresented groups, specifically women and minorities, and from graduate students and postdocs.

1. Please indicate if you would be available for all or only for part of the March 9-13 time period.

2. All code and documentation produced at the event is to be made available immediately under an OSI-approved open-source license or a Creative Commons license. Please indicate if this would pose any difficulty for your participation.

3. Please briefly describe your qualifications (programming languages, metadata standards, experience with data schemas, web-service programming, mash-up programming, etc).

4. Please state what you would most like to accomplish at the hackathon, given your current understanding. If you would not be writing software at the event, please state how you would like to contribute and how you would expect to benefit.

5. Please indicate if you are a member of an underrepresented group (including women, persons with disabilities, and any of the following minorities: African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander).

To apply, please enter your personal information and your responses by February 5 into the online form at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p6ikV0To6fXpJ369ozyNSSw&hl=e...

In addition, if possible please email a CV to the organizers at hackathon3@nescent.org by the same deadline. If you are interested in participating but are unable to respond in full by that deadline, please let us know as soon as possible. Please understand that the funds as well as the space for this event are limited. We also need to balance a critical mass of developers in certain areas of expertise with a broad participation of different data providers, and so not all qualified applicants can be guaranteed acceptance.

Yours,

The Organizing Committee Arlin Stoltzfus, Rutger Vos (Evolutionary Informatics Working Group) Hilmar Lapp, Todd Vision (NESCent) Katja Schulz (Tree of Life)