I can't hold off commenting on this discussion any longer. Apologies for the tome of accumulating thoughts.
As noted, there are three aspects to recent discussions about GUIDs - the techie (easy?) bits, the social (harder?) bits and the funding/financial (hardest?) bits.
I was at the two TDWG funded meetings to decide on an appropriate GUID for the biodiversity informatics community. The (wide-ranging) group decided to support LSIDs. A number of us subsequently rounded up a library of resources (http://wiki.tdwg.org/GUID/) and drafted quite a few documents (http://www.tdwg.org/activities/guid/documents/) including the LSID Applicability Statement (the application of an existing standard to our domain).
Ricardo Pereira (among a host of other work) setup the SourceForge site (http://lsids.sourceforge.net/) and that is the ONLY TDWG LSID resource that is currently down. It is down because SourceForge changed their website
provider configuration (with previous notice) that broke our setup, and we were not able to restore it - but we are working on it (minus Ricardo - which is why the delay). To quote Ricardo: "Important pieces of the LSID infrastructure were never off-line, not even for a minute in the last year or so. Examples:
http://lsid.tdwg.org/summary/urn:lsid:ubio.org:namebank:11815
http://lsid.tdwg.org/summary/urn:lsid:ubio.org:classificationbank:1164063
http://lsid.tdwg.org/summary/urn:lsid:indexfungorum.org:names:213649
http://lsid.tdwg.org/summary/urn:lsid:gdb.org:GenomicSegment:GDB132938
http://lsid.tdwg.org/summary/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30000959-2
The actual LSID infrastructure, including the TDWG LSID resolver and the LSID authorities listed there have always been operational, as you can see from the links above. The open source community website that supports software developers involved in implementing LSID clients and resolvers also was never off-line:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lsids (open source collaboration site)
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=198923 (downloads)
http://lsids.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/lsids/ (version control - subversion)
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=lsid-developer (LSID developer forum)"
As has been stated previously, the 'social' aspects involved in the uptake of standards is important. As Jim said, TDWG develops standards (not software or an implementation service). We assume end-users have the skills to use the standards or that companies such as ETI (that are thin on the ground) can provide a service. This has drawn criticism. It is not an easy call as we are already spread far too thinly. We have also previously missed addressing the needs of the managers of the people in TDWG (who hold the purse strings and who make decisions). I did commission 'executive summaries' of most of the TDWG 'standards' (including at least three on LSIDs) but I agree that we need to consider deployment before a new TDWG standard is released.
One of my responsibilities as part of the TDWG Infrastructure Project (TIP) was to consider a funding model for TDWG. I found it amazing that an organization in TDWG's position has so few members. TDWG develops
standards for sharing biodiversity information. Most of us know just how central that is (as has been stated) for work such as GBIF, CoL, EoL, ALA, EDIT, OBIS, ITIS....and all museums, herbaria etc (a hell of a huge community!!). In 'biodiversity', we are also talking about one of the planets key resources!
When TIP started, TDWG had 23 individual members and 17 institutional members. Amazing isn't it!? Why? Maybe because of the small original overlap of let's call them 'biotypes' with Information Technologists? TDWG started as a club of IT inclined biotypes playing with databases. The explosion of IT has radically changed that. TDWG is still at a point where the biotypes can't easily understand the few (unbelievably valuable and overworked!) people with IT skills that TDWG had fortunately attracted.
I know that some people have not joined TDWG because they see it as 'bureaucratic': To quote Rod Page and Nike "...Just do it...". I'm convinced that TIP's restructured TDWG has addressed that. Movement is now far more dependent on the individual than the committee - and we can't do better (or worse) than that.
It was obvious to me that we needed to build TDWG membership before we look to Sugar Daddies or more handouts. With a substantial membership, we make a stronger case to potential supporters, and we can better spread the load. In 2008, we had 32 Individual members and 47 institutional members - better but still a very small percentage of the catchment of those who should be supporting TDWG in some form.
In discussing financial models, I would like to single out GBIF's support of TDWG. TDWG has a special relationship with GBIF. TDWG does have an excess of servers that can be used for infrastructure such as mentioned (thanks to TIP). These servers are housed and supported by GBIF. We GREATLY appreciate this considerable support.
How does all of this relate to the LSID discussion?
1. As an Australian media personality likes to say "It is better to have people inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in." This on two counts. A decision was made to try and implement LSIDs. A lot of work has
been done toward that goal. The LSID Applicability Statement forms a foundation for general GUID use. If we decide something is better, evolution should not be a major hassle. Donald, as the Chairman of TDWG also deserves our support (will anyone else out there take on the role?). Ben Richardson has taken on the role of Review Manager of the LSID Applicability Statement. When it goes to public review (hopefully soon), do what you can to make the document a useful foundation for future developments. Please be constructive.
2. Do what you can to assist TDWG to build the membership and to spread the (considerable) load. A hybrid financial model is a foregone conclusion. Full stop. We need a substantial membership to fund infrastructure support (as has been discussed). Medium to long-term funding support from external agencies to support infrastructure is almost impossible. We also need substantial additional funding for specific projects that probably can't get done without it. Right now we are desperate for an effective tool for building/discussing/maintaining a TDWG ontology. TDWG is going to be increasingly dependent on an effective ontology. Unless I'm blind, this project should be in good position to attract special funding. LSID (or other GUID) infrastructure looks equally important.
Lee
Lee Belbin
TDWG Secretariat