[gensc-biodiversity-wg] Whitepaper consultation on Biodiversity Informatics
Norman Morrison
norman.morrison1 at googlemail.com
Thu Mar 29 20:32:17 UTC 2012
Dear Colleague,
We need funding to pursue biodiversity research, but funding is under
huge pressure. One area for which there is potential is in
biodiversity informatics because we are witnessing a paradigm shift in
the way we handle data. Now it is expected that data will be openly
accessible, presenting huge opportunities if only the data can be
found when needed.
There is a strong need for a community voice to present the funders
with a set of priorities. We have successfully built a number of
infrastructural components, such as INSDC, GBIF, Catalogue of Life,
but we lack the bridges to allow users to integrate elements from
these resources to address a simple question.
With the encouragement of the European Commission, we are launching a
consultation to write a White Paper on biodiversity informatics. We
have made a list of potential chapters with a brief outline of what
they might cover here:
http://is.gd/WhitePaperChapters
This document is a public Google doc. The approach we propose is to
ask for volunteers to lead the development of each chapter.
* If you can identify a new chapter, please add it to the Chapters list
* If you are prepared to lead a chapter, put your name against the
chapter, open a new public googledoc and past the link into the
chapters list.
* Please do not create chapters dedicated to specific disciplines,
such as molecular biology, because there is no way to prioritise one
discipline against another.
* Three funded EU projects will administer the production of the white
paper. agINFRA, BioVeL and ViBRANT will supply. We will edit the
chapters for continuity and will produce an executive summary.
* If you are able to join the editorial group, email one of the
organisers. We expect this to work by self-nomination.
The European Commission would like access to such a community view in
forming the funding calls under Horizon2020. It is possible that
other funders may pay similar attention. It makes no sense to do this
over just Europe. We recognise that biodiversity is global and we
need global priorities.
Timetable
27 April: initial draft chapters; propose group meetings with dates in
May
1 June: refined chapters merged by editorial group
22 June: draft executive summary and edited chapters
July: public meeting
1st Sept: Publication of white paper
This timetable is tight because the Horizon2020 funding calls will be
drafted in the last quarter of 2012. To have real benefit in Europe,
we need to move quickly.
Organising Group:
Alex Hardisty <hardistyAR_at_cardiff_dot_ac_dot_uk>
Dave Roberts <dmr_at_nomencurator_dot_org>
Hannu Saarenmaa <hannu_dot_saarenmaa_at_uef_dot_fi>
Norman Morrison <norman_at_nmorrison_dot_info>
Peter van Tienderen <P_dot_H_dot_vanTienderen_at_uva_dot_nl>
Regards,
Norman
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