[ Please excuse the duplicate posts of this important announcement. ]
TDWG Executive Committee proposes a new Constitution.
In 2015, the TDWG Executive Committee commissioned a team to assess TDWG's
structure and effectiveness, and to propose changes to the TDWG
Constitution as needed. That work is now complete, and the Executive
Committee has advanced the proposal to the membership for review. The
revised Constitution aims to engage more people in the ongoing activities
of TDWG, and to promote continuity in governance across years. If the
proposed Constitution is adopted, new committees will be created and
charged with ongoing responsibilities, and new officers will be elected to
lead those committees. Read more about the motivation and the detailed
changes here <http://www.tdwg.org/about-tdwg/new-constitution/> and in
the Review
Package
<http://www.tdwg.org/fileadmin/tdwg/about-tdwg/tdwg-constitution-2016__packa…>
.
The 90-day review period began on 06-Sep-2016, with publication of theReview
Package
<http://www.tdwg.org/fileadmin/tdwg/about-tdwg/tdwg-constitution-2016__packa…>
on
the TDWG website. It will end with with the close of electronic voting on
06-Dec-2016. Each member is encouraged to read the proposal and assess the
changes against the rationale presented in the package. Comments can be
sent to the TDWG secretary (secretary [at] tdwg [dot] org) until 30 days
prior to the close of the vote. (Additional information about comments and
the comment period will be posted on the proposal page of TDWG website
<http://www.tdwg.org/about-tdwg/new-constitution/> before 30 Sep.)
Voting will be electronic. Each member in good standing[1] will receive an
electronic ballot, and will be entitled to one vote (approve/disapprove). A
majority of votes cast in each membership category, individual and
institutional, will be required to adopt the new Constitution.
On behalf of the Executive Committee,
Dimitrios Koureas, TDWG Secretary
Stan Blum, TDWG Coordinator
[1] To be a member in good standing, at least one of the following must be
true: 1) you paid TDWG membership dues in either 2015 or 2016; 2) you
attended the annual meeting in 2015; or 3) you have paid registration fees
to attend the annual meeting in 2016. Please inquire with the TDWG
Treasurer (treasurer [at] tdwg.org), if you would like to confirm your
membership status.
Hi All,
There's a Software Carpentry (SC) workshop set up for the 2 days just
before BIS TDWG 2016. It's an opportunity to see what SC is all about
and for anyone attending to stretch or enhance their data skills a bit.
You can read about the course content on the course wiki:
http://idigbio.github.io/2016-12-03-tdwg-costa-rica/
> Core topics include:
>
> * automating tasks using the Unix shell
> * structured programming in Python, R, or MATLAB, and
> * version control using Git or Mercurial
>
> We plan to offer an additional half-day of training focused on using
> the big data available from the iDigBio <http://www.idigbio.org>
> project. This may include programming with web APIs, distributed
> computation with Apache Spark, or similar topics.
There are still some slots left. So if you, or perhaps a student you
know who is going to attend BIS TDWG 2016, please pass along news about
this opportunity.
Best,
Deb, Matt, Dimitrios, Nicky, et al
--
-- Upcoming iDigBio Events https://www.idigbio.org/calendar
-- Deborah Paul, iDigBio Digitization and Workforce Training Specialist
iDigBio -- Steering Committee Member, SPNHC Liaison, SYNTHESYS3 Representative
Institute for Digital Information, 234 LSB
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida 32306
850-644-6366
