TDWG GUID Workshop 2
Goals and Overview for Day 1
Donald Hobern
dhobern@gbif.org
GBIF Deputy Director for Informatics
June 2006
Progress so far…
GUID Workshop 1
• Recommended use of LSID as technology for use within TDWG
• Did not preclude use of other GUIDs as appropriate
• Recognised need for stronger policies for GUID assignment for
foundational data types (especially taxon names, publications and
specimens)
• Most TDWG data would then be represented as (RDF) metadata
Subsequent activity
• Prototyping and evaluation of LSID technology across a range of
projects and data types
• Initiation of TDWG Technical Architecture Group (TAG), producing
first draft report
Why LSIDs?
Other technologies are available, but LSIDs seemed an appropriate fit
among other reasons because:
• LSIDs meet the recognised need for GUIDs which could offer greater
long-term stability than e.g. URLs
• LSIDs represent a model with an existing specification and reference
implementations (rather than inventing a standard from scratch)
• LSIDs have some penetration among projects in other areas of
bioinformatics
• LSIDs can be issued cheaply and in unlimited numbers
• LSIDs can easily be constructed to exploit existing identifiers where
available
• LSIDs include a model for handling versioning of associated data
and metadata
Roadmap for the workshop
Day 1 – review prototyping activity
• (Review recommendations of TDWG TAG)
• Identify lessons learned and problems to be solved
Day 2 – tools and infrastructure requirements
• Consider state of existing software components
• Identify and prioritise other required components
• Consider infrastructure services required within biodiversity
informatics to ensure proper management of GUIDs
Day 3 – application and best practices
• Develop recommendations for TDWG use of GUIDs
• Develop guidance for TDWG working groups in application of GUIDs
to different data types