TDWG/GBIF Call for Participation: Globally Unique Identifiers for Biodiversity Informatics

[Donald Hobern]

TDWG/GBIF Call for Participation:
Globally Unique Identifiers for Biodiversity Informatics
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Background
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  The Taxonomic Databases Working Group (http://www.tdwg.org/) and 
  the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (http://www.gbif.org/) 
  have received funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation 
  (http://www.moore.org) to strengthen the infrastructure supporting 
  the interchange of biodiversity data. A TDWG Infrastructure Project 
  Team has now been established and is seeking requirements for 
  globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) for biodiversity informatics, 
  and to establish infrastructure to support their use.

  This review will consider how GUIDs could benefit all communities 
  exchanging biodiversity data. TDWG and GBIF are therefore seeking 
  input from institutions with an interest in organismal biodiversity 
  data (including, but not limited to: natural history museums, 
  herbaria, culture collections, gene banks, zoological and botanical
  gardens, and biological monitoring projects).


Process
-------

  The planned process is as follows:

   * Survey the requirements: an open call for input from all areas of 
     biodiversity informatics (using mailing lists and/or Wikis to 
     support public discussion).
   * First workshop to review requirements, to evaluate candidate 
     technologies and to establish working groups. The workshop will 
     be limited to around 25 participants is planned to take place 
     1-3 February 2006 at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center,
     Durham, North Carolina, USA (http://www.nescent.org/).  Our 
     thanks go to Cliff Cunningham at NESCent for hosting this 
     workshop.
   * Working groups will address identified tasks using mailing lists 
     and/or Wikis to support public discussion and provide 
     recommendations.
   * Second workshop to review working group recommendations and to 
     define models and processes for initial implementation. The 
     workshop will be limited to around 25 participants for 3 days and 
     take place in mid-2006 at a location to be announced.
   * Publication of TDWG standards for GUIDs and an initial 
     implementation of any associated services and support tools. 


How to participate
------------------

  Provide input to the survey of requirements through one of the 
  following:

   * Add comments or edit pages in the wiki at
     http://wiki.gbif.org/guidwiki. If you wish to become actively
     involved and attend the workshops please add content describing 
     your experience and interests to a wiki page associated with your 
     name.
   * Subscribe to the mailing list TDWG-GUID at listserv.nhm.ku.edu at 
     http://listserv.nhm.ku.edu/archives/tdwg-guid.html - your comments 
     may then be added to the Wiki. 

  Your input is particularly sought if:

   * You are involved in a project that is experimenting with or using 
     some form of GUID technology (LSID, DOI, etc.). We would value 
     comments on strengths and weaknesses of the approach and your
     experience in deploying solutions (see 
     http://wiki.gbif.org/guidwiki/wikka.php?wakka=ExistingProjects).
   * You can describe ways in which GUIDs could be used to solve 
     problems within your domain of interest (see 
     http://wiki.gbif.org/guidwiki/wikka.php?wakka=GUIDUseCases). 

  Send an expression of interest to participate in the GUID workshops.

  Please send such applications to guids at gbif.org, providing the 
  following information:

   1. Name and contact details
   2. Institutional affiliation
   3. Specific area(s) of interest within biodiversity informatics
   4. Reasons for interest in participation in GUID standards 
      development
   5. Would you be able to devote time to web-based discussions as part 
      of a working group between the two workshops?
   6. Would you require support to attend the workshops? If so, to what 
      extent? 

  Please also include items 1-5 on your wiki page


Workshops
---------

   * The first workshop will take place at the National Evolutionary 
     Synthesis Center (NESCent), Durham, North Carolina, USA,
     1-3 February 2006.
   * The workshops are intended to be focused working sessions, and 
     therefore attendance will be limited
   * Participants will be selected on the basis of expertise, 
     experience, contributions to discussions, willingness to devote 
     time to a working group, and diversity of attendees' backgrounds 
     and institutions.


Contacts
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  For further information, please send messages to guids at gbif.org.

  The TDWG Infrastructure Project Team is:

   * Lee Belbin, Australia - Project Manager
   * Roger Hyam, United Kingdom - Technical Architect
   * Ricardo Pereira, Brazil - Senior Software Engineer

  The GBIF contact is:

   * Donald Hobern, Programmer Officer for Data Access and Database
     Interoperability (dhobern at gbif.org)

 
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Donald Hobern (dhobern at gbif.org)
Programme Officer for Data Access and Database Interoperability 
Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat 
Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Tel: +45-35321483   Mobile: +45-28751483   Fax: +45-35321480
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