[tdwg-content] Proposed new Darwin Core terms - abundance, abundanceAsPercent

[Bob Morris]

Oops. I also mis-spoke. It's not the case that abundance and
abundanceAsPercent have the same definition.  I'm not sure what I was
reading....

I withdraw all my other whining as moot by the intended
non-stringiness of the term.

On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 11:59 AM, Bob Morris <morris.bob at gmail.com> wrote:
> The example 2.4% is a string, but the definition is the same as the
> proposed abundance term. I think it should instead be something like "
> A string produced by computing 100 times the number of individuals of
> a taxon found in a sample divided by the total number of individuals
> of all taxa in the sample, converting that real number to a string and
> concatenating '%' to the result." One way or another, denovo
> properties with the same semantics and also permitting the same
> datatype should be avoided, especially where easy.
>
> A W3C working group  on RDF validation is being proposed based on a
> recent workshop on that subject [1].  Having been at part of that
> workshop, I've come to think that whenever easy, term definitions
> should seek to minimize ambiguities WRT to valid values of properties.
> It's low-hanging fruit to specify that a datatype property not accept
> a union of types, and here even specifying that a value of "2.4" as a
> string still needlessly carries validity checking risks, e.g. in
> serializations like RDF/XML which might trip on the issue. At a
> minimum the abundanceAsPercent should declare a (single) datatype,
> probably a string type.
>
> [1] https://www.w3.org/2012/12/rdf-val/report
>
> On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 8:35 AM, John Wieczorek <tuco at berkeley.edu> wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>
>> GBIF has just published "Meeting Report: GBIF hackathon-workshop on
>> Darwin Core and sample data (22-24 May 2013)" at
>> http://www.gbif.org/orc/?doc_id=5424. Now that this document is
>> available for public reference, I would like to formally open the
>> minimum 30-day comment period on two related new terms proposed during
>> the workshop and defined in the referenced document.
>>
>> The formal proposal would add the following new terms:
>>
>> Term Name: abundance
>> Identifier: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/abundance
>> Namespace: http:/rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/
>> Label: Abundance
>> Definition: The number of individuals of a taxon found in a sample.
>> This is typically expressed as number per unit of area or volume. In
>> the case of vegetation and colonial/encrusting species, percent cover
>> can be used.
>> Comment: Examples: "4 per square meter", "0.32 per cubic meter",
>> "24%". For discussion see
>> http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Occurrence (there will be no
>> further documentation here until the term is ratified)
>> Type of Term: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#Property
>> Refines:
>> Status: proposed
>> Date Issued: 2012-03-01
>> Date Modified: 2013-09-25
>> Has Domain:
>> Has Range:
>> Refines:
>> Version: abundance-2013-09-25
>> Replaces:
>> IsReplaceBy:
>> Class: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Occurrence
>> ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD (someone please confirm or deny this)
>>
>> Term Name: abundanceAsPercent
>> Identifier: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/abundanceAsPercent
>> Namespace: http:/rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/
>> Label: Abundance as Percent
>> Definition: 100 times the number of individuals of a taxon found in a
>> sample divided by the total number of individuals of all taxa in the
>> sample.
>> Comment: Examples: "2.4%". For discussion see
>> http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Occurrence (there will be no
>> further documentation here until the term is ratified)
>> Type of Term: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#Property
>> Refines:
>> Status: proposed
>> Date Issued: 2012-08-01
>> Date Modified: 2013-09-25
>> Has Domain:
>> Has Range:
>> Refines:
>> Version: abundanceAsPercent-2013-09-25
>> Replaces:
>> IsReplaceBy:
>> Class: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Occurrence
>> ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD (someone please confirm or deny this)
>>
>> The related issues in the Darwin Core issue tracker are
>> https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=142
>> and
>> https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=187
>>
>> If there are any objections to the changes proposed for these new
>> terms, or comments about their definitions, please respond to this
>> message. If there are no objections or if consensus can be reached on
>> any amendments put forward, the proposal will go before the Executive
>> Committee for authorization to put these additions into effect after
>> the public commentary period.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> John
>> _______________________________________________
>> tdwg-content mailing list
>> tdwg-content at lists.tdwg.org
>> http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/tdwg-content
>
>
>
> --
> Robert A. Morris
>
> Emeritus Professor  of Computer Science
> UMASS-Boston
> 100 Morrissey Blvd
> Boston, MA 02125-3390
>
>
> Filtered Push Project
> Harvard University Herbaria
> Harvard University
>
> email: morris.bob at gmail.com
> web: http://efg.cs.umb.edu/
> web: http://wiki.filteredpush.org
> http://www.cs.umb.edu/~ram
> ===
> The content of this communication is made entirely on my
> own behalf and in no way should be deemed to express
> official positions of The University of Massachusetts at Boston or
> Harvard University.



-- 
Robert A. Morris

Emeritus Professor  of Computer Science
UMASS-Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd
Boston, MA 02125-3390


Filtered Push Project
Harvard University Herbaria
Harvard University

email: morris.bob at gmail.com
web: http://efg.cs.umb.edu/
web: http://wiki.filteredpush.org
http://www.cs.umb.edu/~ram
===
The content of this communication is made entirely on my
own behalf and in no way should be deemed to express
official positions of The University of Massachusetts at Boston or
Harvard University.