Javier, Anton, Dave, Steve, and all,

I appeal for a single document/glossary that explains the language and the architecture that all these confusing data exchange standards terms mean. Maybe we need an ontology.

A few weeks ago I experienced the same confusion that must have occurred at your meeting after learning about DiGIR2, which I think is a "service".

We have things called protocols and schemas and services and providers and portals. Add GUID, which I still think we are short of a single clear understanding of what it is supposed to be, although we have many ideas discussed of what it could be. And don't forget the UDDI, which is called what - service? It's really confusing. And is the GBIF UDDI to be the provider resolver for all protocols and services, or just some?

Just to list some of the points of confusion: DiGIR was a protocol but also there was a DiGIR Provider and DiGIR Portal that used the protocol. And several different versions of the DiGIR Provider have now been installed all over the world. And there is the GBIF UDDI. And the GBIF Portal that does more than the original DiGIR Portal.

DiGIR required a "federated" schema format, like DarwinCore, but now we have proposals for segmenting a single DarwinCore schema into specialized ones that can be selected and combined by a given provider. What will these new "mini" schemas be called?

BioCASE was a protocol and there was a BioCASE Provider and Portal.

BioCASE handles the ABCD schema. Does it also handle TCS, SDD, and the other now standard schemas?

My impression was that TAPIR was a new protocol to replace DiGIR and BioCASE, but I also then just presumed there would be a TAPIR Provider and Portal, following the past. But, I guess that wasn't the case. So, what will the Provider and Portal for TAPIR called?

DiGIR2 now is a service that can utilize any protocol - DiGIR1, TAPIR, and ostensibly BioCASE. But, does it add, replace, augment any of the other existing protocols/schemas? How do Providers and Portals fit in with DiGIR2? Is there a DiGIR2 Provider and DiGIR2 Portal in addition to the DiGIR2 Service?

Folks, please, please clarify all this.

Finally, it's very dismaying to think these protocol activities may continue to diverge rather than converge. What an opportunity we have right now to unify global data exchange and come together.

Chuck Miller Missouri Botanical Garden St. Louis, MO

-----Original Message----- From: tdwg-tapir-request@lists.tdwg.org [mailto:tdwg-tapir-request@lists.tdwg.org] Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 11:00 AM To: tdwg-tapir@lists.tdwg.org Subject: tdwg-tapir Digest, Vol 4, Issue 11

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Today's Topics:

1. FAQ page (Javier de la Torre)

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Message: 1 Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:23:08 +0100 From: Javier de la Torre jatorre@gmail.com Subject: [tdwg-tapir] FAQ page To: tdwg-tapir@lists.tdwg.org Message-ID: 69CEC9B7-82F7-4B61-ACB4-5BC097967A20@gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed

Dear all,

We had today the GBIF ICT Expert Group meeting and a lot of people where making questions about TAPIR. Seems that there is confusion regarding names. People were asking why there is Digir 2 if we are all going to TAPIR and things like that. There were also questions regarding when things are gonna be ready, what can we expect from Digir2 and TAPIR pywrapper and what would be the reasons to migrate, how difficult is going to be to migrate, etc.

I was thinking of extending the FAQ page that Renato started in Madrid to answer all these questions, but I need some help specially from the Digir2 people.

-What is the status of Digir2? -Is it going to be difficult to update from Digir 1 to 2?

I will in any case start writing there and maybe you can then modify extend thins related to you.

Best regards,

Javi.

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