W18 - Names for Biodiversity

Unsolicited contributions considered? No

Abstract

The purpose of this workshop is to raise awareness of the importance of Scientific Names to biodiversity informatics ; and to invigorate collaborative redevelopment of the TDWG Standards used in the management and delivery of nomenclatural and taxonomic information.

Our existing standards are now well tested and found lacking with respect to Scientific Names. They don’t provide for round-trips on data within our own systems; there is insufficient support for scientific applications and linked data; there are incomplete paths to publication or meaningful delivery of data into clients’ systems. More telling, with the exception of Darwin Core, our Names standards are rarely used. As a consequence; recent work on Names has fragmented into individual and isolated project efforts. There are now more terms than concepts; more definitions than terms; many more-or-less similar vocabularies, alternative frameworks and non-interoperable application systems. This may well be the natural process of evolution, but we do need to make time now to address reconciliation; and take a more collaborative approach to the development of workable standards for Scientific Names in data interchange. Can we work together to bridge the gaps, and to resolve the competing requirements of aggregation and science; data and knowledge; product and research; code-compliance and interoperability? This workshop will aim for consensus around the idea that we can collaborate within TDWG to develop a pragmatic replacement for the existing Names standards and a map to get us there. Open data need open standards and open standards need open development. Not everyone gets Names; those who do need to be working together.