TDWG Annual Meeting 2002 Indaiatuba, SP, Brasil October 19-20, 2002

3:42 PM Agenda Overview Day 1: TDWG and GBIF TDWG subgroups GBIF work programs TDWG – GBIF collaboration Day 2 Presentations Working Groups TDWG business meeting

TDWG and GBIF Introduction

3:42 PM TDWG Purpose TDWG founded in 1985 to: “… establish international collaboration among biological database projects so as to promote the wider and more effective dissemination of information about the World's heritage of biological organisms…” “[TDWG] develops, adopts and promotes standards and guidelines for the recording and exchange of data”

3:42 PM About TDWG: Began with focus on botanical databases Scope expanded (1994) to include all organisms Membership is open to individuals and organizations interested in biodiversity informatics [Executive Committee may waive membership fee] Anyone may participate Volunteer organization Very small budget

3:42 PM GBIF Also dedicated to global biodiversity informatics Has two kinds of members: Voting members (countries/economies) pay fees based on gross national product has a real budget to do real work Associate members: international organizations that can provide biodiversity information into GBIF network Members (network nodes) provide biodiversity data

3:42 PM GBIF Four work programs Electronic Catalog of the Names of Known Organisms (ECAT) Digitization of Natural History Collections (DIGIT) Data Access and Database Interoperability (DADI) Outreach and Capacity Building (OCB) Each WP has Subcommittee (chair, vice-chair, members) Program officer Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG)

3:42 PM TDWG and GBIF so far… TDWG became associate member of GBIF at GBIF Governing Board meeting, Canberra, Australia (GB4) TDWG represented at 3 of 4 STAG meetings: ECAT, Sydney DIGIT, Washington DC DADI, San Diego STAG participants recognize standards will be needed to achieve GBIF objectives

3:42 PM TDWG and GBIF future… Objectives at this meeting: Identify standards needed to support GBIF work programs Form new working groups, as needed Develop plan for producing each standard, including: events, schedule, resources) Create draft specification Test / review Revise Approve

Pending TDWG Business

3:42 PM Pending Proposals Proposal I: Append the following text as the last paragraph of Article 8. "For the purpose of this Article, the words "postal vote" may also mean a vote by electronic means (the concrete procedure to be specified beforehand by the executive committee).“ Explanation: Article 8 currently proscribes that ballots be distributed by post and returned to the Secretary either by post or hand-delivered at the annual meeting. The added text would enable voting by electronic mail or another electronic mechanism established by the executive committee.

3:42 PM Pending Proposals Proposal II: In Article 8, second paragraph, first sentence, the words "annual meeting" will be changed to "voting deadline". The complete, modified, sentence will read: "By-laws may be adopted, altered, or repealed by a majority of the membership voting by postal vote, upon written proposal by the Executive committee dispatched to the membership at least sixty days before the voting deadline." Explanation: This modification will allow a proposal to modify the By-laws to be put before the membership and voted upon independently of an annual meeting. (Votes on proposals to modify the Constitution would remain tied to the annual meeting.)

3:42 PM Pending Proposals Voting procedure Only members in good standing may vote Ballots mailed to members August 19 New members may obtain ballots from TDWG Secretary, Georgina MacKenzie Ballots must be returned to Secretary before 12:30 PM, October 20 th (Sunday)

3:42 PM Election of Officers Chair, Executive Committee – Stan Blum Secretary – Georgina MacKenzie Treasurer – Walter Berendsohn Regional Secretaries Africa - vacant Asia – Li MingGuang Latin America – Vanderlei Perez Canhos North America – Gerald ‘Stinger’ Guala Oceania – Alex Chapman Nominating Committee – Jim Croft

TDWG Plenary Meeting Session I: TDWG Subgroups

3:42 PM TDWG Purpose TDWG founded in 1985 to: “… establish international collaboration among biological database projects so as to promote the wider and more effective dissemination of information about the World's heritage of biological organisms…” “[TDWG] develops, adopts and promotes standards and guidelines for the recording and exchange of data”

3:42 PM TDWG Subgroups Geography Economic Botany Access to Biological Collections Data Schema Protocol Taxonomic Names Structure of Descriptive Data Spatial Data Standards TDWG Standards Process

3:42 PM Charge to Subgroup Conveners Describe: Purpose and Products How the subgroup functions Context for the work Who are the stakeholders How does the work advance their interests Resources that could improve effectiveness and facilitate progress