[tdwg-content] Darwin Core Proposal - environment terms

Steve Baskauf steve.baskauf at vanderbilt.edu
Fri Mar 27 15:37:25 CET 2015


Actually, let me be more blunt.  I object to the adoption of these terms 
as currently proposed because the recommendation in the comment is not 
clear.  I think that these three term adoption issues are blocked by the 
adoption of the RDF guide.  If the RDF guide is accepted by the 
Executive, then there is default mechanism for addressing my issue: 
there will be dwc:biome, which would have a literal value and 
dwciri:biome, which would have a value that is an IRI.  If the RDF guide 
is not accepted by the executive, then there needs to be some other 
solution, such as the Audubon Core mechanism: dwc:biome and 
dwc:biomeLiteral. 

I don't know what the holdup is on the RDF guide.  It had jumped through 
every hoop required for adoption and was submitted for approval by the 
Executive on 2014-12-29.  There is no reason why it should take three 
months for a decision on this.

Steve

Steve Baskauf wrote:
> For clarification, each example shows one string value that is free 
> text and another that is an ENVO IRI.  Does this mean that if a user 
> wants to indicate the ENVO class for flooded grassland biome that they 
> can chose to provide either the text label for the class or the IRI?  
> Or is the example showing free text intended to show how a user might 
> provide a value if they aren't following the  recommended best 
> practice (i.e. using some system other than ENVO that doesn't have 
> IRIs)?  It seems to me counterproductive to provide two choices.  I 
> would rather see the recommendation be to provide an IRI unless one 
> isn't available.  Otherwise, consumers will be stuck with having to 
> try to interpret what free text means. 
>
> Alternatively, provide two terms: one intended for use with literal 
> names (i.e. free text) and one intended for use with IRIs.  That 
> precedent has been set in Audubon Core (e.g. ac:provider and 
> ac:providerLiteral).  In DwC we have the dwc: and dwciri: solution in 
> the RDF guide (which appears once again to be stuck in Executive 
> Committee limbo).  In the Audubon Core case, this isn't really an RDF 
> issue since AC doesn't assume any particular representation and I 
> think you could have a spreadsheet with an IRI value for ac:provider.  
> I suppose it would be kosher to have dwciri:biome expressed as an IRI 
> in string form in a spreadsheet for people who don't care about RDF.  
> I don't think this has actually been discussed.
>
> Steve
>
> John Wieczorek wrote:
>>
>>
>> Term Name: biome
>> Identifier: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/biome
>> Namespace: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/
>> Label: Biome
>> Definition: An environmental system to which resident ecological 
>> communities have evolved adaptations.
>> Comment: Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary 
>> such as defined by the biome class of the Environment Ontology 
>> (ENVO). Examples: "flooded grassland biome",
>> "http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_01000195".
>> Type of Term: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#Property
>> Refines:
>> Status: proposed
>> Date Issued: 2013-09-26
>> Date Modified: 2015-03-26
>> Has Domain:
>> Has Range:
>> Refines:
>> Version: biome-2015-03-26
>> Replaces:
>> IsReplaceBy:
>> Class: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event
>> ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD
>>
>> Term Name: environmentalFeature
>> Identifier: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/environmentalFeature
>> Namespace: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/
>> Label: Environmental Feature
>> Definition: A material entity which determines an environmental system.
>> Comment: Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary 
>> such as defined by the environmental feature class of the Environment 
>> Ontology (ENVO). Examples: "meadow",
>> "http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000108".
>> Type of Term: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#Property
>> Refines:
>> Status: proposed
>> Date Issued: 2013-09-26
>> Date Modified: 2015-03-26
>> Has Domain:
>> Has Range:
>> Refines:
>> Version: environmentalFeature-2015-03-26
>> Replaces:
>> IsReplaceBy:
>> Class: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event
>> ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD
>>
>> Term Name: environmentalMaterial
>> Identifier: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/environmentalMaterial
>> Namespace: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/
>> Label: Environmental Material
>> Definition: A portion of environmental material is a fiat object 
>> which forms the medium or part of the medium of an environmental system.
>> Comment: Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary 
>> such as defined by the environmental feature class of the Environment 
>> Ontology (ENVO). Examples: "scum",
>> "http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00003930".
>> Type of Term: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#Property
>> Refines:
>> Status: proposed
>> Date Issued: 2013-09-26
>> Date Modified: 2015-03-26
>> Has Domain:
>> Has Range:
>> Refines:
>> Version: environmentalMaterial-2015-03-26
>> Replaces:
>> IsReplaceBy:
>> Class: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event
>> ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD
>
> -- 
> Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
> Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences
>
> postal mail address:
> PMB 351634
> Nashville, TN  37235-1634,  U.S.A.
>
> delivery address:
> 2125 Stevenson Center
> 1161 21st Ave., S.
> Nashville, TN 37235
>
> office: 2128 Stevenson Center
> phone: (615) 343-4582,  fax: (615) 322-4942
> If you fax, please phone or email so that I will know to look for it.
> http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
> http://vanderbilt.edu/trees
>
>   

-- 
Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences

postal mail address:
PMB 351634
Nashville, TN  37235-1634,  U.S.A.

delivery address:
2125 Stevenson Center
1161 21st Ave., S.
Nashville, TN 37235

office: 2128 Stevenson Center
phone: (615) 343-4582,  fax: (615) 322-4942
If you fax, please phone or email so that I will know to look for it.
http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
http://vanderbilt.edu/trees


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.tdwg.org/pipermail/tdwg-content/attachments/20150327/636a7bf8/attachment.html 


More information about the tdwg-content mailing list