[Taxacom] Whitepaper consultation on Biodiversity Informatics

Peter Stevens peter.stevens at mobot.org
Fri Mar 30 14:02:28 CDT 2012 

Mmm, I don't see that one can have useful content sans questions.  
Maybe this is part of the problem, assuming that taonomic literature  
has useful data?

P.

On Mar 30, 2012, at 7:59 AM, Chris Thompson wrote:

> Thanks, Rod,
>
> for the great comment on the focus should be on "questions," not
> technologies.
>
> BUT I would add the basic focus should FIRST be on content. The  
> information
> that can be used to answer questions.
>
> In the half century, I have been in the "biodiversity" business,  
> what has
> been the clear trend is the continued re-invention of the  
> "infrastructure
> technologies," investing big bucks in "new and better" software,  
> etc., but
> virtually nothing on content. The old "taxonomy is free" paradigm.  
> People
> have questions, they want answer, so the critical component is  
> content, the
> information necessary to answer those question. Not so new  
> technology to
> simply re-scuffle the old information.
>
> We run the Systema Dipterorum (see us at www.diptera.org), an online
> nomenclator and species database for more than 10% of the known
> biodiversity, flies (Insecta: Diptera), which are critical as they  
> have one
> of this highest impact on human society, as disease vectors,  
> pollinators,
> crop pests, biological control agents, model organisms (Drosophila),
> forensics indicators, etc. We provide basic information on more  
> than 160,000
> species and a quarter of million names, with simple obsolete software
> (FileMakerPro version 6), but as we have a budget of only some 50K  
> per year
> we focus on content, trying to keep up with the thousands of new  
> species
> being added annually, etc. And enhancement of our basic content.
>
> What we need is support to improve our content, to enhance it, to  
> have it
> "peer-reviewed," etc. No some new software to simply re-format it.
>
> Oh, well ...
>
> back to the data ...
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Chris
>
> see us at www.diptera.org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roderic Page
> Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 3:43 AM
> To: Dave Roberts
> Cc: Norman Morrison ; Peter van Tienderen ; Hannu Saarenmaa ; Alex  
> Hardisty
> ; tdwg at lists.tdwg.org ; taxacom
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Whitepaper consultation on Biodiversity  
> Informatics
>
> Dear Dave,
>
> This sounds like a great opportunity.
>
> That said, I little part of me dies when I read "infrastructure"  
> documents.
> The focus is invariably on technologies rather than questions, and  
> I don't
> think people actually want "infrastructure", they want things to  
> help them
> do the things they're trying to do (as opposed to cool things that  
> could be
> built for them).
>
> I've made some comments on the topics, but rather than pollute your  
> own
> outline with my grumpiness, I've made a copy and scribbled some  
> thoughts on
> that. The annotated document is at
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/ 
> 1VLvysjbm6IUhceAEgkAWSQ9yc71YK-9_48bPNZACZPo/edit
> or http://bit.ly/H17nLs if that link gets mangled.
>
> Regards
>
> Rod
>
>
> On 29 Mar 2012, at 12:31, Dave Roberts wrote:
>
>> Dear Colleague,
>>
>> we need funding to pursue biodiversity research, but funding is  
>> under huge
>> pressure.  One area for which there is potential is in biodiversity
>> informatics because we are witnessing a paradigm shift in the way we
>> handle data. Now it is expected that data will be openly accessible,
>> presenting huge opportunities if only the data can be found when  
>> needed.
>>
>> There is a strong need for a community voice to present the  
>> funders with a
>> set of priorities.  We have successfully built a number of  
>> infrastructural
>> components, such as INSDC, GBIF, Catalogue of Life, but we lack the
>> bridges to allow users to integrate elements from these resources to
>> address a simple question.
>>
>> With the encouragement of the European Commission, we are launching a
>> consultation to write a White Paper on biodiversity informatics.   
>> We have
>> made a list of potential chapters with a brief outline of what  
>> they might
>> cover here:
>>
>> http://is.gd/WhitePaperChapters
>>
>> This document is a public Google doc. The approach we propose is  
>> to ask
>> for volunteers to lead the development of each chapter.
>>
>> * If you can identify a new chapter, please add it to the Chapters  
>> list
>>
>> * If you are prepared to lead a chapter, put your name against the
>> chapter, open a new public googledoc and past the link into the  
>> chapters
>> list.
>>
>> * Please do not create chapters dedicated to specific disciplines,  
>> such as
>> molecular biology, because there is no way to prioritise one  
>> discipline
>> against another.
>>
>> * Three funded EU projects will administer the production of the  
>> white
>> paper.  agINFRA, BioVeL and ViBRANT will supply. We will edit the  
>> chapters
>> for continuity and will produce an executive summary.
>>
>> * If you are able to join the editorial group, email one of the
>> organisers.  We expect this to work by self-nomination.
>>
>> The European Commission would like access to such a community view in
>> forming the funding calls under Horizon2020.  It is possible that  
>> other
>> funders may pay similar attention.  It makes no sense to do this  
>> over just
>> Europe.  We recognise that biodiversity is global and we need global
>> priorities.
>>
>> Timetable
>> 27 April: initial draft chapters; propose group meetings with  
>> dates in May
>>
>> 1 June: refined chapters merged by editorial group
>>
>> 22 June: draft executive summary and edited chapters
>>
>> July: public meeting
>>
>> 1st Sept: Publication of white paper
>>
>> This timetable is tight because the Horizon2020 funding calls will be
>> drafted in the last quarter of 2012.  To have real benefit in  
>> Europe, we
>> need to move quickly.
>>
>> Organising Group:
>> Alex Hardisty <hardistyAR_at_cardiff_dot_ac_dot_uk>
>> Dave Roberts <dmr_at_nomencurator_dot_org>
>> Hannu Saarenmaa <hannu_dot_saarenmaa_at_uef_dot_fi>
>> Norman Morrison <norman_at_nmorrison_dot_info>
>> Peter van Tienderen <P_dot_H_dot_vanTienderen_at_uva_dot_nl>
>> -- 
>> Dr D.McL. Roberts,        Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5086
>> Dept. Zoology,
>> The Natural History Museum,
>> Cromwell Road,
>> London        SW7 5BD
>> Great Britain             Email: dmr at nomencurator.org
>> Web page:
>> http://scratchpads.eu
>> http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/euk-extreme/
>> --
>> "The intent of [bureaucratic] language is not to deceive, it is to
>> preserve one's interpretive latitude so that if context changes a  
>> new more
>> approporiate meaning can be attached to the language already used."
>> Matthew Crawford (The case for working with your hands, Penguin 2010)
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
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>>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Roderic Page
> Professor of Taxonomy
> Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
> College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
> Graham Kerr Building
> University of Glasgow
> Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
>
> Email: r.page at bio.gla.ac.uk
> Tel: +44 141 330 4778
> Fax: +44 141 330 2792
> Skype: rdmpage
> AIM: rodpage1962 at aim.com
> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1112517192
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/rdmpage
> Blog: http://iphylo.blogspot.com
> Home page: http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html
>
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>
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>
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> your search terms here
>
>
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>
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>
> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either  
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>
> (1) by visiting http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
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