April 2014 - 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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DCMI/ASIS&T Joint Webinar: "How to pick the low hanging fruits of Linked Data"
by DCMI Announce 25 Apr '14

25 Apr '14

******************Please excuse the cross postings****************** *DCMI/ASIS&T Joint Webinar* ==================================================================== *:: Title:* *"How to pick the low hanging fruits of Linked Data"* *:: Presenters:* Seth van Hooland & Ruben Verborgh *::* *Date:* Wednesday, 21 May 2014 *::* *Time:* 10:00am EDT (World Clock: 14:00 UTC http://bit.ly/1qLSeq1) *::* *Registration:* http://wiki.dublincore.org/index.php/DCMI_Handbook/webinars#vanHooland ==================================================================== *ABOUT THE WEBINAR:* The concept of Linked Data has gained momentum over the past few years, but the understanding and the application of its principles often remain problematic. This webinar offers a short critical introduction to Linked Data by positioning this approach within the global evolution of data modeling, allowing an understanding of the advantages but also of the limits of RDF. After this conceptual introduction, the fundamental importance of data quality in the context of Linked Data is underlined by applying data profiling techniques with the help of OpenRefine. Methods and tools for metadata reconciliation and enrichment, such as Named-Entity Recognition (NER), are illustrated with the help of the same software. This webinar will refer to case-studies with real-life data which can be re-used by participants to continue to explore OpenRefine at their own pace after the webinar. The case-studies have been developed in the context of the handbook "Linked Data for Libraries, Archives and Museums", which will be published by Facet Publishing in June 2014 ( http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=9641&category_code=102). *PRESENTERS:* *Seth van Hooland* is an assistant professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where he leads the Master in Information Science. After a career in the private sector for a digitization company, he obtained his PhD in information science at ULB in 2009. He is currently teaching a special course on linked data at the Information School of the University of Washington. He is also active as a consultant for both public and private organizations. *Ruben Verborgh* is a researcher in semantic hypermedia at Ghent University - iMinds, Belgium, where he obtained his PhD in computer science in 2014. He explores the connection between semantic web technologies and the web's architectural properties, with the ultimate goal of building more intelligent clients. Along the way, he has become fascinated by linked data, REST/hypermedia, web APIs and related technologies. He is the co-author of a book on OpenRefine and several publications on web-related topics in international journals. *For more information and to register, visit the event webpage:* http://wiki.dublincore.org/index.php/DCMI_Handbook/webinars#vanHooland

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**EXTENDED** CfP: DC-2014 in Austin, Texas - 8-11 October 2014
by DCMI Announce 17 Apr '14

17 Apr '14

***Please accept our apology for cross-posting*** *14th International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications* 8-11 October 2014, Austin, Texas, USA ======================= *EXTENDED CfP:* http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2014/cfp Conference Website: http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2014 ======================= The deadline for submissions to the program for DC-2014 in Austin Texas has been extended by two weeks to *17 May 2014*. *2014 THEME: "Metadata Intersections: Bridging the Archipelago of Cultural Memory"* In addition to submission related to the conference theme, submissions are welcome on *any topic addressing metadata models, technologies and applications*. Submission describing innovative best practices in metadata are welcome from practitioners as well as researchers and application developers. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative's Annual Meeting & International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications brings together individuals representing initiatives working in silos from across the metadata ecosystem to share experiences and best practices and to seek innovative solutions to common problems. *IMPORTANT DATES:* *--Peer-Reviewed Papers, Project Reports & Posters* EXTENDED Submission Deadline: 17 May 2014 Author Notification: 12 July 2014 Final Copy: 16 August 2014 *--Special & Panel Sessions, Tutorials & Workshops* EXTENDED Submission Deadline: 17 May 2014 Author Notification: 1 June 2014 *--Best Practice Posters & Demonstrations* EXTENDED Submission Deadline: 16 June 2014 Author Notification: 30 June 2014 *FOR MORE INFORMATION:* *Conference Chairs: * --William Moen, University of North Texas - william (dot) moen (at) unt (dot) edu --Amy Rushing, University of Texas at San Antonio - amy (dot) rushing (at) utsa (dot) edu

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