Background

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation awarded US$1.5 million over 30 months to a TDWG-GBIF partnership that will improve our ability to design and implement biodiversity information standards. The project started in August 2005 and has three full-time positions, a Project Manager (Lee Belbin: lee@tdwg.org), a Technical Architect (Roger Hyam) and a Software Engineer (Ricardo Pereira). Two part-time project positions are held by Donald Hobern (GBIF) and Stan Blum (California Academy of Sciences).

The project (called the TDWG Infrastructure Project - TIP) aims to modernize TDWG’s infrastructure to better support its standards development. The Project will develop-

A professional, open standards development process based on best current practice and experiences of other similar standards organisations such as IETF, the Open GIS Consortium, GGF, W3C and OASIS
A web site for managing, documenting and promoting TDWG standards
An web-based environment that will effectively support and coordinate TDWG group activities
A system for managing globally unique identifiers for biodiversity data elements

Reusable software components to support TDWG standards
A strategy for long-term support requirements for TDWG

The Project So Far

The Project has produced a set of reports

Current TDWG processes
Best current practice in relation to standards development processes
Documentation requirements
Documentation priorities for 2006
Website requirements
Website software
Outsourcing web development
The outcomes of the first Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) Workshop at NESCent in Durham , North Carolina .

Current Activities

US$200,000 is being allocated to TDWG subgroups to help to bring them toward the new process, documentation and a common architecture.
TDWG website development (public components and subgroup support environment)
Draft of a New TDWG process document by the process subgroup of TDWG (final due April 1, 2006 )
Establishing a Technical Architecture group (TAG) with its first task to develop a consistent technical architecture that will cover all TDWG standards
Working groups are being formed to address start to build an LSID infrastructure and develop prototypes.

Ahead

The second GUID workshop. Probably in June 2006 in Europe
Propose a New TDWG Process
Research a viable long-term support model for TDWG
Establish an effective LSID support infrastructure

TDWG members and other interested individuals or institutions are encouraged to be involved with all aspects of the Project.

Lee Belbin
lee@tdwg.org
March 7, 2006