July 2013 - tdwg - lists.tdwg.org

In Memoriam Dr Richard Pankhurst
by Mergen Patricia 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Dear Colleagues, On behalf of TDWG we are very sorry to inform you that Richard John Pankhurst passed away on Tuesday 26 March after fighting oesophageal cancer for many years. He was a very important contributer and friend of TDWG, as can be judged from his short CV from the BioCISE directory: Dr Richard Pankhurst began his career in computing in the computer section at CERN, Geneva in 1963, and moving back to Cambridge to work on Computer-Aided Design in 1966. In 1971 he moved to the Botany School, Cambridge to begin work on his PANKEY programs for identification and key construction. This was continued at the Botany department of the Natural History Museum from 1974 until 1991, where he was for many years curator of the British herbarium, and also worked on the Flora Meso-Americana. "Biological Identification", 1978, was the first textbook on computer methods in identification. A new version of this book was published by C.U.P in 1991. Also published in that year was the Flora of the Outer Hebrides. With over 50 publications of refereed papers and books in the fields of taxonomic computing he has made major contributions to these fields. Dr. Pankhurst has been very active recently in programming and managing botanical databases (Flora Europaea, BSBI database and PANDORA) and systems with images. He was appointed Principal Scientific Officer at the RGB Edinburgh in 1991. Dr. Pankhurst served on various committees of British and international organizations, among others. Botanical Society of the British Isles, Committee for Scotland and Database Committee. Botanical Society of Scotland, Council. Taxonomic Databases Working Group, convener of Descriptors Group. International Organisation for Plant Information, co-convener of Information Systems Committee, Checklist Committee. Dr. Pankhurst was the head of the Department of Taxonomic Computing at RGBE. After his official retirement, he compiled a large database of the Rose family. His work on recording the wild flowers of the Outer Hebrides took him frequently to these remote islands on behalf of the Botanical Society of the British Isles. His interest in Taraxacum (dandelions) was acknowledged when a species found only on St. Kilda was named *Taraxacum pankhurstianum*. In Richard, not only a very important scientist was lost to our community, but also a very pleasant collaborator and friend . <patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be> Dr. Patricia Mergen (General Secretary of TDWG, on behalf of the Executive Committee) Head of Biodiversity Information and Cybertaxonomy Royal Museum for Central Africa Leuvensesteenweg 13 B-3080 Tervuren Belgium + 32 2 769 5 *626* patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be

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BIH2013 - reminder for registration - early-bird closes 31 July
by Alex Hardisty 25 Jul '13

25 Jul '13

Dear colleague, If you are planning to attend the BIH2013 Conference in Rome and the associated workshops, this is a reminder to register by 31 July - deadline for early-bird registration (100€). You can register at this page: http://tinyurl.com/mtgk997 The Conference Schedule is available here: http://tinyurl.com/meosnxy regards -- Alex on behalf of conference organising team Alex Hardisty Director of Informatics Projects Cardiff School of Computer Science and Informatics Cardiff University

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Please participate (very brief survey!) for data contributors, curators, administrators, repository developers
by Hilmar Lapp 08 Jul '13

08 Jul '13

Forwarded on behalf of Jane Greenberg and Chelcie Rowell. -- Thanks to those who have already participated in this survey. We’re eager for more participation. Please participate if you have not yet completed this survey, and please feel free to forward this call to other lists and colleagues. The following survey examines controlled vocabulary use across data repositories and is intended for data contributors, curators, administrators, and/or repository developers. The survey will close on Monday, July 15, 2013. Completing the survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. To complete the survey, please click the following link: https://unc.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3fU0xOeRbH6jntb NOTE: If you are unable to click on the link directly, please type the entire link into the address or location field at the top of your web browser, and press the ENTER key on your keyboard to access the survey. The survey is supported by a supplement to the original NSF DataONE grant in order to explore controlled vocabulary use within and across a broad spectrum of data repositories, including but not limited to the U.S. DataNet initiatives. Sincerely, Chelcie Rowell -- Chelcie Rowell Research Assistant, Metadata Research Center School of Information and Library Science University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chelcie(a)live.unc.edu | 770.862.0750

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DC-2013/iPRES-2013 conferences EARLY REGISTRATION extended to 15 July
by DCMI Announce 06 Jul '13

06 Jul '13

*Apologies for cross-posting* *=== iPRES-2013 / DC-2013 INVITATION TO LISBON ===* iPRES-2013 and DC-2013 (Dublin Core) are co-locating on 2-6 September 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal at the Instituto Superior Técnico. A unique common registration provides full access to both the conference programs and digital proceedings. Keynotes will be held in shared iPRES/Dublin Core plenary sessions, and papers sessions specific of each conference will run in parallel. Tutorials, per-conference events, and workshops are cross-listed for both conferences, and require registration. Keynote speaker Gildas Illien will address the common goals, values and points of intersection of the preservation and metadata communities in "Darling, Can We Talk" (Keynote Asbtract: http://dcevents.dublincore.org/index.php/IntConf/index/pages/view/keynotes-… ). -- iPRES-2013, 10th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL OBJECTS *** emphasizes the significance of preserving scientific and cultural digital heritage across institutional and disciplinary boundaries. iPRES 2013 will further strengthen the link between digital preservation research and practitioners in memory institutions and scientific data centers. * iPRES Conference website: http://ipres2013.ist.utl.pt/index.html * iPRES Preliminary Program: http://ipres2013.ist.utl.pt/prg_overview.html -- DC-2013, LINKING TO THE FUTURE *** explores questions regarding the persistence, maintenance, and preservation of metadata and descriptive vocabularies. The need for stable representations and descriptions spans all sectors including cultural heritage and scientific data, eGovernment, finance and commerce. Thus, the maintenance and management of metadata is essential to address the long term availability of information of legal, cultural and economic value. * Dublin Core Conference website: http://dcevents.dublincore.org/index.php/IntConf/dc-2013/ * Dublin Core Program: http://dcevents.dublincore.org/index.php/IntConf/index/pages/view/program-2… iPRES/DC-2013 provides a unique opportunity for interlinking fundamental to cutting edge preservation and metadata knowledge. ============================= REGISTER NOW (Early registration extended to 15 July): * http://ipres2013.ist.utl.pt/registration.html OR * http://dcevents.dublincore.org/index.php/IntConf/index/pages/view/registrat… =============================

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