This is a reminder that the TDWG Conference for 2008 will be held in Perth, Australia on October 19-26. I would urge those planning to attend the conference to register soon.

The program for the meeting can be found online at http://www.tdwg.org/conference2008/program/. The following sessions have been planned:

1. An Introduction to TDWG 2. From Small to Big: How to Capitalize on Small Contributions to the Big Dreams of Sharing Biodiversity Information 3. An Introduction to...: Species Names, Transfer Protocols and Biological Descriptions 4. Biodiversity Informatics: Key Organizations and Projects 5. Biodiversity Informatics: Literature and More 6. Ontologies 7. Phylogenetics standards 8. Posters and Computer Demonstrations 1 9. Atlas of Living Australia: Australian Biodiversity Informatics 10. Atlas of Living Australia: Architecture and Deliverables 11. Atlas of Living Australia: Exploring User Scenarios 1 12. Atlas of Living Australia: Exploring User Scenarios 2 13. Posters and Computer Demonstrations 2 14. Keynote Speakers 15. Biodiversity-related Networks and Tools 16. Species Profile Model 17. Multimedia in Biodiversity Informatics 18. The Global Invasive Species Information Network 19. Bringing Organism Observations into Bioinformatics Networks 20. Wild Ideas!!

There is still time to submit abstracts for these sessions before the 1 September deadline. Instructions for authors can be found at http://www.tdwg.org/conference2008/abstracts/.

Please note too that costs are reduced for registrations received by 6 September. See http://www.tdwg.org/conference2008/registration/.

I hope to see many of you in Perth.

Donald

Donald Hobern

Director, Atlas of Living Australia

Chair, Taxonomic Databases Working Group

Email: Donald.Hobern@csiro.au

Web: http://www.ala.org.au/