[tdwg-content] Darwin Core changes published

[John Wieczorek]

Dear all,

I have finally been able to implement all of the Darwin Core proposed
changes that were approved by the TDWG Executive Committee on 16 Oct
2011. Changes include corrections to minor errors that have been
brought to my attention since the previous release as well as changes
resulting from issues submitted to the Darwin Core Issue Tracker and
resolved through open commentary and review.

This revision of the Darwin Core Standard is the first one to have
added terms (namePublishedInYear, dcterms:references,
georeferencedDate, and identificationVerificationStatus). It is also
the first revision in which a term has been deprecated
(occurrenceDetails), albeit in favor of a broader existing term from
the Dublin Core (dcterms:references).

Not all proposed changes were accepted. Specifically, issues 115-117
calling for the inclusion of the Dublin Core terms StillImage,
MovingImage, and Sound in the Darwin Core Type vocabulary have been
deferred for further research. Also, issue 122 calling for an alias
attribute for Darwin Core terms was rejected.

The reasoning behind the decisions is included in the comments for
each issue in the Issue Tracker
(http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/list). You can search for
a specific issue by entering its number in the text box next to the
"Search" button, then click on the button. The brief summary of each
of the decisions is recorded on the Darwin Core Decision History page
at

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/history/decisions/index.htm

Anyone interested in the specific changes to the actual documents of
the standard may browse the list of committed changes on the Darwin
Core Google Code site at

http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/source/list

Specifically, revisions numbered 1469-1472, 1477, 1481, and 1484 show
the recent changes related to the standard. Other revisions on the
list are related to the Darwin Core Reader software, not to the
standard.

Files associated with the standard have all been updated. These
include the archive file (darwincore_2011-10-16.zip), which contains
the full standard and web page documentation. Utility files for this
revision have also been created and added as featured downloads
visible on the Darwin Core Project home page at

http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/

Files that are no longer up to date with the standard have been
deprecated, but may still be found on the downloads tab if you search
for deprecated downloads.

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions,

Cheers,

John

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 3:57 PM, John Wieczorek <tuco at berkeley.edu> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> This is an update to let you know that I have just submitted a summary
> with a request to the TDWG Executive Committee for authorization to
> make changes to the Darwin Core terms. The specific changes requested
> are those that have achieved an unopposed consensus on this list
> during the public review period that began 4 July 2011 (and ended when
> I sent the message to the Executive today). For reference, the
> specific changes for which authorization was sought are those having
> the status "Vote" on the Darwin Core Issue Tracker and listed below:
>
> Issue 84: new term namePublishedInYear
> Issue 96: new term dcterms:references, deprecate dwc:occurrenceDetails
> Issue 104: new term georeferencedDate
> Issue 105: new term identificationVerificationStatus
> Issue 109: remove subclassing from dwctype:Occurrence
> Issue 110: remove subclassing from dwctype:PreservedSpecimen
> Issue 111: remove subclassing from dwctype:FossilSpecimen
> Issue 112: remove subclassing from dwctype:LivingSpecimen
> Issue 113: remove subclassing from dwctype:HumanObservation
> Issue 114: remove subclassing from dwctype:MachineObservation
> Issue 115: new term dcmitype:StillImage to Darwin Core Type Vocabulary
> (value for basisOfRecord)
> Issue 116: new term dcmitype:MovingImage to Darwin Core Type
> Vocabulary (value for basisOfRecord)
> Issue 117: new term dcmitype:Sound to Darwin Core Type Vocabulary
> (value for basisOfRecord)
>
> In addition, there have been requests to add two attributes to all
> Darwin Core terms to facilitate applications:
>
> Issue 121: add English term label attribute
> Issue 122: add term alias attribute
>
> For details on these and all other open issues for the Darwin Core,
> see http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/list.
>
> Cheers,
>
> John
>