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Request for distribution
by Walter Berendsohn 11 Nov '02

11 Nov '02

Request for Distribution Dear Colleagues, most probably, you have received the RfC below several times already. However, there may be many more people interested apart from those reached by the mailing lists given below. So please, do re-distribute the request in your country to user communities that may not have it yet, and in your institute to colleages who may not be reached otherwise. Please remember to put Biological Collection Data Standard - Request for Comment in the subject line, so that people are able to identify duplicates. Thank you very much Walter - Please excuse crossposting of this message - Request for Comment Dear Colleague, The Access to Biological Collections Data (ABCD) Task Group is developing an XML Schema as a data interchange standard for unit-level data. A unit may be a specimen, culture, living organism, or observation of an organism. The standard, intended for use in distributed query systems for unit-level databases, has reached a degree of development where the Group welcomes comments and suggestions from the wider community. The current draft of the schema, labelled CTB version 1.39, can be found at the Content Subgroup's Web-site at http://www.bgbm.org/TDWG/CODATA/Schema/ along with further information about the project and the group itself. The profile is available as a .xsd file or as a very large HTML file with diagrams to show the structure. I may also be viewed through a special browser-based schema viewer. The Schema is intended to provide a comprehensive basic structure and is consequently quite large and highly structured. It will be used as the standard format in which the results of a distributed query will be returned. The Group seeks comments on the adequacy of the element set and the definition of the element's semantics ("documentation"). We would particularly value comments on where the element count may be reduced, rather than enlarged, without impairing its function. Please would you take a look at the current draft, and send comments and suggestions to abcd(a)bgbm.org by the December 3, 2002. For the ABCD Standard Editors Group J. Croft, N. Thomson, and W. Berendsohn (Please note: this message has already been posted to Taxacom, TDWG, NHColl- L, BioCASE, ENHSIN, CETAF, BiolSyst, and VegBank lists)

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Four different Vinca flowers
by shinde 31 Oct '02

31 Oct '02

I have come across 4 varieties of Vinca rosea (Apocynaceae). 1. Pink flower with dark pink center 2. Pink flower with white center 3. white flower with pink center 4. pure white flower. What could be the possible explaination. Can some one help? Is it genetic variation Transposons etc. or hybrid breeding? all four were at one place. Rajendra Shinde

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Bioinformatics positions IPK Gatersleben
by Dr. Helmut Knuepffer 28 Oct '02

28 Oct '02

Dear colleagues, I would like to inform you about a bioinformatics position (research group leader) at IPK Gatersleben. Please distribute them also to colleagues who might be interested to apply. See also: http://bic-gh.ipk-gatersleben.de/jobs.php Helmut Knuepffer Dr. Helmut Knuepffer Abt. Genbank, Institut fuer Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK) Genebank Department, Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Corrensstr. 3 D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany phone: +49-39482-5283 fax: +49-39482-5155 knupffer(a)ipk-gatersleben.de, HKnuepffer(a)web.de IPK: http://www.ipk-gatersleben.de Genebank Database: http://fox-serv.ipk-gatersleben.de Mansfeld Database of Cultivated Plants: http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de

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Re: Multinational and Special Characters in Data - Call for papers
by Adrian Rissone 18 Sep '02

18 Sep '02

This message is to confirm that the workshop ("International and Special Characters") will take place. The exact date/time has not yet been scheduled. We would welcome additional short presentations. Please send the title and abstract to me at A.Rissone(a)nhm.ac.uk so as to arrive by latest 17:00 on 25 September 2002 (UK time). It would help planning if you could respond before that deadline! Regards, Adrian Rissone Natural History Museum London SW7 5BD

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Multinational and Special Characters in Data
by Adrian Rissone 12 Sep '02

12 Sep '02

If you are interested in attending a workshop on "Multinational and Special Characters in Data" during the TDWG meeting in Brazil in October, please reply by email to A.Rissone(a)nhm.ac.uk The idea is to have a few short presentations followed by discussion. It would be helpful if you can indicate the database(s) you are using and their current methods of handling non-ASCII characters. See you in Brazil!

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TDWG 2002 meeting
by Stan Blum 27 Aug '02

27 Aug '02

Dear TDWG List Member: This year's TDWG meeting will be held in Indaiatuba, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Our hosts this year are Dr. Vanderlei Perez Canhos and his staff at "CRIA", the Reference Center for Environmental Information (Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental). The TDWG meeting will occupy two days in a larger forum on biodiversity informatics, which will include a Species 2000 meeting, a symposium on "Key Innovations in Biodiversity Informatics" and several satellite workshops. The main TDWG meeting will take place on the weekend of October 19-20. The primary focus of the meeting will be an examination of the four "work programs" recently established by the Global Biodiversity Informatics Facility (GBIF), and exploring with GBIF staff how best to pursue the development of standards that will promote the interchange of biodiversity information. Sunday will be largely devoted to presentations and demonstrations, and there is still plenty of room in the schedule if you would like to inform your colleagues of your recent work. TDWG subgroups will meet in the days before the plenary sessions, and the symposium on will take place on the following Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 21-22). Please see the web site for additional details about the events, schedule, travel, visas, and hotels. http://www.cria.org.br/eventos/tdbi/. Registration forms should be available on the web site by the end of this week. In the mean time, the following estimates of expenses (in US$) for TDWG events might help you with your planning: Travel: ?? Visa: ?? Hotel: $70/night TDWG Registration: $80 TDWG Banquet: $40 Symposium Registration: $20 Please contact me (sblum(a)calacademy.org) if you would like to give a presentation or demonstration on Sunday, October 20. I think this promises to be a very significant set of meetings. I hope to see you there, Stan Blum Chair, TDWG Exec. Comm.

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higher taxonomy
by Camiel Dijkers 17 Jun '02

17 Jun '02

Dear TDWG-member. I hereby like to draw your attention to our web-site www.taxonomica.com (ENTAX). For this moment this site is used in the Netherlands by the CIW (Dutch Commission for integrated water management) to register all freshwater and marine species within the Netherlands, and to provide each species with a unique TCN-code (Taxon Code Netherlands). Since this system is fully hierarchic, each taxon has a parent. Therefore it was very important for us to organize the higher taxonomic levels. Lately this action has been completed in ENTAX. Choices made for the classification of taxa in ENTAX (downto phylum level) are explained in a document. You can download this document here (<http://forums.taxonomica.com/EnTaxTree001.pdf>). The classification presented merely serves as a starting point open for discussion. Please feel free to participate in the discussion by joining the ENTAX discussion forum (<http://forums.taxonomica.com>). Yours sincerely, Camiel DIjkers > "DISCLAIMER: The information in this message is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this message by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, or distribution of the message, or any action or omission taken by you in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. Please immediately contact the sender if you have received this message in error. Thank you."

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Vacancy at RHS Wisley.
by rupert wilson 01 May '02

01 May '02

> Dear Colleagues, > Applications from UK residents or those with a UK work permit are invited for the following post at the Royal Horticultural Society. Horticultural Database Administrator RHS Garden Wisley Starting Salary range 14,500 - 16,500 (Pounds Sterling) p.a. The RHS Botany Department based at Wisley Garden, is one of three expanding scientific departments devoted to the study of horticulture. The Botany Department is a leading authority on the taxonomy of plants in cultivation and hosts the Society's Horticultural Database. We currently seek a Database Administrator to undertake data management and staff training for the RHS Horticultural Database. The post-holder will work to support the diverse information needs of our garden and herbarium collections, publications (including the RHS Plant Finder and ambitious website plans), and Advisory Service. Applicants should hold a degree or equivalent in a biological or horticultural subject, with excellent computer literacy skills and experience of databases. A methodical approach to work is essential. Please send an A5 sae for further details and an application form to: Roma Sinclair, PA to Director of Horticulture, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking Surrey GU23 6QB Completed applications to be received by 17 May 2002 http://www.rhs.org.uk/about/vacancies.asp > <<Advert - Hort DBA.pdf>> > Would you be so kind as to post the following job vacancy on the > noticeboards? > Do please let me know if you think there are any suitable candidates > about. > > Many thanks > > Rupert Wilson > Senior Horticultural Database Administrator, > RHS, Wisley. > Direct Line: (01483) 21 2316 > E-mail: rupertw(a)rhs.org.uk >

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TDWG Annual Meeting: Campinas, Brasil; Oct 18-22, 2002
by Stan Blum 18 Feb '02

18 Feb '02

TDWG List subscribers: The 2002 TDWG meeting will be held October 18-22, in Campinas, Brasil. Our host will be the Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA) [Reference Center on Environmental Information] -- Vanderlei Perez Canhos, President & Director. The TDWG meeting will be held (concurrently) with a Species 2000 meeting (Oct 19-20). In addition, each organization will host an all-day symposium (sequentially) on the following two days (Oct 21-22). Subgroups, working groups, and interest groups may meet (as necessary) from one to three days before the main meetings. Satellite events, such as training workshops or meetings of related organizations may be scheduled in the days following the symposia. (See an overview of the schedule, below.) The main TDWG meeting will consist of: - Contributed papers - Subgroup reports (progress and plans) - Business meeting - Discussion and planning of future activities The TDWG Symposium: The recently established Global Biodiversity Information Facility (http://www.gbif.org/) has already begun activities that will profoundly influence the acquisition, management, and dissemination of biodiversity information. GBIF-sponsored activities, in turn, will highlight the need for standards that will guide the work of potential data providers, integrators, and developers of analysis services. To ensure that TDWG's work supports and compliments GBIF activities, TDWG will hold a symposium dedicated to elaborating a framework for interoperability and identifying the (missing) standards that will be critical to building the infrastructure. The program is still to be determined, but is likely to include: reviews of GBIF activities and broader trends in information technology (e.g., XML technologies and web services), position papers, and discussion. This year's meeting promises to be informative, important to the development of TDWG, and fun(!). I hope to see you there. Stan Blum Chair, TDWG Executive Committee sblum(a)calacademy.org TDWG and Species 2000 Meetings; Campinas, Brasil; October 18-22, 2002 SCHEDULE: Oct 16 (Wed): working- and subgroups (tentative) Oct 17 (Thu): working- and subgroups (tentative) Oct 18 (Fri): working- and subgroups Oct 19 (Sat): Sp2000 & TDWG meetings (concurrently) Oct 20 (Sun): Sp2000 & TDWG meetings (concurrently) Oct 21 (Mon): Species 2000 Symposium -- Catalog of Life Oct 22 (Tue): TDWG Symposium -- Framework for Interoperability Oct 23 (Wed): Satellite events (to be determined) Oct 24 (Thu): Satellite events (to be determined)

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Compiling list of electronic databases in Museums, Botanic Gardens, etc.
by Adrian Rissone 15 Jan '02

15 Jan '02

Hello everyone, Foolishly, I have agreed to try to compile a list of Museums, Botanic Gardens, etc., involved in specimen data management and delivery. Please could you send me details of anything you know about any organisation, as follows: Name of organisation Product(s) used (in-house or commercial) Age of application (if known) Purpose of database Approximate number of records to date (if known) Database, web-only or both Whether accessed via a portal (if so give details if known) Research or development programmes (with the potential to lead to a database or web application) I will be very grateful for any information you can send me. Many thanks and kind regards, Adrian Rissone A.Rissone(a)nhm.ac.uk

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