wiki-archive/twiki/data/TIP/TipSurveyResultsOtherDetails.txt

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---+ Is there anything else about TDWG that you would like to comment about?
(back to TipSurveyResults)

_1. Might be more effective within a larger organization.    2. The title (Working Group) sounds much to informal for a standards body._

_A monthly newletter or similar would be good for reminding folk that TDWG exists outside of the annual meetings?_

_change the name asap._

_Continue to move forward._

_Don't reinvent the wheel for things that other bodies have already spent years working out.  Learn and catalog what other standards, procedures, protocols exist.  Try to leverage already completed work to speed TDWG work along.  TDWG should not need to write every single thing from scratch.  Also, pay attention to the level of detail and documentation approaches used by other standards bodies.  So far the TDWG standards are too broadly defined and under-documented in my opinion.    The initial thrust of TDWG in the 80s was to standardize the data content - eg. atandard abbreviations, enumerated lists of possible values for data elements, standard encoding schemes for geographical regions or institutions.  The recent emphasis on data transport has shifted focus away from standard content, but it will soon rear its head again because the specific details contained within the transported data will be a mess.  TDWG needs to return to the data content standardization issues and finish that job as well._

_Friendly and helpful community. The annual conference is extremely valuable.    If it cold obtain the right legal ststus so that it became eligble for research grant money, that would be great._

_From my work in working with large organisations that appear to be outside the TDWG sphere (FAO, IPGRI, ISIS, Pollination and Agricultural Communities), where TDWG standards are used (DIGIR, Darwin Core), they are often seen as 'GBIF Standards' and hence a need for proper labelling and metadata with all TDWG Standards.  Thus I see a prominent 'Standards' naming/numbering convention needs to be developed like ISO12324; thus TDWG Standard 23.4 etc.  Also, I think there needs to be a link to the TDWG Web site attached to the Metadata of all standards and on that Web Site should be a prominent 'Who is TDWG'.  A third part whould be a history of development of (or a leyman's guide to) each standard - I have heard 'Darwin Core is just an extention of Dublin Core'. The rest I think is being done by Lee and his team._

_Glad to see that TDWG is making such great progress!_

_Great work on the collaborations with GBIF and support from Moore Foundation.  Collaboration' between GBIF and TDWG can help insure the survival of both organizations by expanding impact. Keeping them independent helps to hedge the bets._

_I am happy with the name as it stands. Maybe move to just the acronym. It is ugly but sticks. _

_I am not really sure that I am a member. It there were a charge, I would not be. _

_I am signed up to all the TDWG mailing lists I can find (TDWG List, TDWG SDD, TDWG TAG, TDWG Tapir), yet it still feels like I see about a third of the 'conversation' happening out there on the developing standards. We desperately need to get more of this conversation online so that it is easier to be involved._

_I frequently find myself in the position of explaining to new audiences what TDWG is and it's importance in the international standards community. I've found that the current name is problematic during this sort of outreach because it does not accurately represent the scope of TDWG's work (and is also a pretty long mouthful). I know that an organizational name change can be a difficult transition, but from experience is often beneficial in the long run._

_I have argued for a more professional approach for many years and welcome the recent initiatives.  I will be following with interest your progress.    Greater communication with members and potential members could be used to promote a greater sense of ownership and commitment_

_I have been involved in trying to turn an international taxonomic organization into an established, funded, staffed organization.  It was a miserable failure.  The international funding organizations that I contacted were not interested in non developmental projects, and the national organizations would not fund international projects.  The organization is still limping along without permanent staff._

_I know that there have been many people working hard on these issues.  I hope you realize that your efforts are greatly appreciated by those of us who do not have the time or resources to be more involved._

_I liked the friendly openess and easy of getting in contact with computer scientists in exactly my field of work. It is good that TDWG remain open and welcome new participants._

_I miss you guys!_

_I should have more comments after I learned more about it._

_I would agree with statements made that the TDWG executive structure based on geographic distribution is not very constructive.  I think this could easily be changed by making subgroup conveners official Executive members, which has happened in an ad hoc way in an on and off basis._

_I'm glad that you are tackling this problem._

_It does require a lot of time to follow up on the different topics and discussions that TDWG covers that are related to our institution's work, and you tend to get lost on many of them, but it definitely pays off to have an international body like TDWG to promote coordination of all efforts worldwide into a coherent unit.  Keep the excellent work!_

_It really mainly needs to be more widely known and recognized._

_NatureServe was involved with TDWG in its early days (1980's) when it truly did represent a taxonomic database working group (focusing on plants at that), and re-engaged several years ago. Clearly, the name is both unintelligible to most people, and doesn't represent the current focus and portfolio of the organization. Name changes are always difficult, but TDWG could probably benefit from one._

_Not until I know more about where you are headed._

_Notwithstanding my preference for TDWG to focus on standards, I feel that the annual TDWG meetings are also important as the only settled regular forum for international discussions and presentations on biodiversity informatics matters. Naturally, TDWG is far from perfect in this regard, but the need is there and I can see the benefit in devising a full and informative conference agenda alongside TDWG standards activities. Perhaps an analogy might be to see the TDWG standards groups meetings as the nomenclature section of the IBC, with the main conference following on._

_Obviously I feel that TDWG has lost all sense of practical reality. We still today after 250 from Linnaeus' 10th edition of the Systema Naturae do not have a complete list of the known organisms on earth. Rather than focus on such simple challenges TDWG continues to explore, develop, etc., more complex data models, standards, etc., as it is driven by computer people. Oh, well ..._

_Overall, I think the focus and activities as they are are spot-on.  Additional funding like the Moore Foundation money provides the key ingredient missing from earlier years; i.e., adequate funding (to host and sponsor participation in workshops, etc.)  In general, I would say the scope and focus of efforts has been spot-on, and the only room for improvement is in terms of facilitating broader participation and implementation of standards._

_TDWG is great! I always enjoy TDWG meetings and communication with TDWG people.    Good luck with your project._

_TDWG is in a position to grow into a new level of service. It's important that the service orientation is maintained and propogated, making standards a boon for the community TDWG serves rather than a burden._

_Thanks for the survey!_

_The biggest challange is to get different communities following a standard. Perhaps the internet can be a source of inspiration and provide valuable insight into how to organize everyone under a same umbrella? After all, everyone these days knows about HTML._

_The meetings are too long! After 8 days I am exhausted_

_These groups often appear very insular.  I for one, can say I've been interested in TDWG for some time now, but never felt directly connected to it, or known how to become connected further. _

_This century will see web-based taxonomy flourish.  This will be much more than standard specimen databases.  The community will have to develop protocols for sharing and interrogating all the kinds of data that taxonomists use.  TDWG needs to grow and provide leadership in this area, and advocate standards it develops.  Otherwise it will be swept away in the tide and become irrelevant._

_We have not been active participants, there are no other mycologists to interact with, and the bias towards plants is overwhelming_

_Your website doesn't say a whole lot about what you do.  Maybe you have to be member first to see what about what goes on in the TDWG, but at 60 pounds, that's a lot for me to pay when the maximum I can make any year teaching is less than 15K Canadian.  Why not have a different pay scale for those of us who are part-time employees and work largely for the love of taxonomy._