Observations Task Group Wiki

This is the wiki for the the TDWG Observations Task Group (OTG), which is a subgroup of the Observations and Specimen Records Interest Group. The Observations Task Group Charter focuses on models and specifications to realize observational data interoperability. The goal of this task group is to create a core semantic model for observational data in the ecological and environmental sciences. Holistic, integrative, and large-scale science would benefit from better data discovery, interpretation, and integration both within and across disciplines that would be enabled from a common observational data model. This is necessary because there is an enormous quantity of observational data that is gathered by very diverse methodologies and stored in various formats. Additionally, a variety of observational data models have been developed, but none are sufficiently comprehensive.

Observational Data: a definition

A working definition is that observational data are the outcomes of acts of measurement using particular protocols within the context of any objective scientific measurement activity. Examples include data from survey or monitoring efforts, controlled experiments, and sensor-derived measurements. In each case, the basic or atomic notion of an observation represents the outcome of some measurement taken of a defined attribute or characteristic of some “entity” (e.g., an organism “in the field”, a specimen, a sample, an experimental treatment, etc.), within some context (possibly given by other observations). Every observation entails the measurement of one or more properties of some real-world entity or phenomenon.

Convener

• Matthew Jones
  • National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
    
  • University of California, Santa Barbara
    
  • jones-at-nceas-dot-ucsb-dot-edu
    

Participants

• Shawn Bowers (UC Davis)
• Vishwas Chaven (GBIF)
• Jerry Cooper (Land Care Research)
• Philip Dibner (OGCii)
• Steve Kelling (Cornell, TDWG IG Convener)
• Jessie Kennedy (Napier U)
• Josh Madin (MacQuarie U)
• Éamonn Ó Tuama (GBIF)
• Cynthia Parr (U Maryland)
• Robert Peet (U North Carolina)
• Mark Schildhauer (NCEAS, UC Santa Barbara; Scientific Observations Network)
• Katharina Schleidt (AlterNet)
• Dave Vieglais (U Kansas)

Participation

We encourage participation from the broad community of TDWG members in order to maximize the utility and effectiveness of the specifications developed by the Observations Task Group. Discussions for this project will occur on the Observations Discussion list; you can subscribe to the list at http://lists.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinformatics/mailman/listinfo/obs and post to the list at <obs@ecoinformatics.org>. The mailing list archives are http://lists.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinformatics/pipermail/obs/.

Meetings

• Observational Data Exchange Specification Workshop, TDWG 2010 (Woods Hole, Massachussets, USA)
• Observations Task Group Meeting, TDWG 2008 (Freemantle, Australia)

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