[Taxacom] digitization - a new Hub proposal takes form and feedback requested

[Robert Guralnick]

Dear Taxacomers:

Three weeks ago we announced (on the blog,
http://nsfadbc.wordpress.com) that individuals from a number of
institutions across the United States got together in Boulder,
Colorado, to discuss how the biological and informatics communities
might go about responding to the Advancing Digitization of Biological
Collections (ADBC) solicitation from NSF. For many, this solicitation
represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to tackle, in a
coordinated manner, a national leadership challenge. If we can work
together effectively, we can make significant inroads towards
digitizing all biological specimens and data, both recent and
paleontological, in collections around the United States.  We
appreciated the discussions that followed our announcement on TAXACOM.
 For many of us, it is quite clear that such a digitization process is
an essential forward step towards more effective use of our collective
knowledge for taxonomy/systematics/biodiversity.

When the meeting in Boulder concluded, it was agreed by all
participants that high levels of transparency, communication, and
involvement by the community were both needed and expected in the
development of any and all HUB proposals. Since then, many of us have
come to feel that these levels have not been addressed in a meaningful
way and the resulting silence over the last three weeks has become a
liability to the community.

We believe that it is vital for able members of the community to step
up and move the process forward and to keep the broad community
abreast of developments.  To wait to begin the processes of community
organization and communication after all of the awards are announced
would be waste the first six months to one year of the HUB's limited
time.  Therefore, it is critical that the community begin to come
together now to support the success of the HUB, regardless of who is
selected to lead.

In this spirit, we’d like to announce that as the end result of many
discussions over the last couple of weeks, a proposal for a HUB is
going forward with CU Boulder as the lead institution and with one of
us (Guralnick) as the lead Principal Investigator. As yet no one is
bound to remain in this collaboration, nor are we certain that others
will not join, but there was broad support from Yale, University of
Kansas, Berkeley, the Field Museum, University of New Mexico, Tulane,
and Harvard for this HUB arrangement.

No doubt there are others of you considering submitting HUB proposals,
and if so we’d like to hear from you via this blog
(nsfadbc.wordpress.com). Why is this? The simple answer is that we
firmly believe that regardless of who finally obtains funding from
NSF, more feedback from the community will lead to a better HUB. This
blog was started to further that discussion.

Some of the things we want to know from members of the broad community:

What do you want a Home Uniting Biocollections (HUB) to do?
How would you like to be involved in the HUB?
How might we start that process now?
What kinds of things will help you the most, whether you are planning
to submit a TCN or not?

Of course, we have our ideas (and we'll want to share them), but there
is a chance for us to begin syncing up now as opposed to later.

As we move forward, we'll be using the blog forum here, listservers,
and the NSF wiki, to engage you and ask questions. It is our belief
that community participation now will pay big dividends when this
process actually begins, no matter who ends up leading the HUB. We
hope that you, individuals and groups from all biocollections, will
take the time to comment and provide input.

Signed,
Rob Guralnick, University of Colorado
Christopher Norris, Yale University/SPNHC
David Bloom, VertNet