GBIF Work Programme 2016 Update

Editor's Notes

• #2: Photo by Donald Hobern. Slides produced by various staff members of the GBIF Secretariat.
• #4: The GBIF Secretariat submitted in 2015 a proposal to modify the DarwinCore standard to accommodate new terms that would support the mobilization of sample-based data. This slide summarizes those terms and their use. Once the new terms were in place, a new DwC core ‘event’ was defined, to enable the publishing of that type of data. More information about the use of the new sample core and these new terms are available through the materials prepared for the GB22 training event: http://community.gbif.org/pg/pages/view/48270/. Additional documentation is under development.
• #5: Several data publishers have already started publishing new datasets from surveys and monitoring programs. Some of them are converting datasets previously published as occurrences into sample-based data.
• #6: A remarkable example is the dataset from the Dutch Vegetation Database, which derived from 85 years of vegetation recording in the Netherlands. The methodology used is one very commonly used in vegetation studies, so this work facitates the adaptation of that kind of datasets from other publishers.
• #7: Follow the link presented in this slide to have a look at the dataset in the IPT.
• #8: Part of the work planned for 2015 included working with task groups around data fitness for use in different scenarios. Two of these groups were run and have presented their final reports in early 2016. In this slide you can find links to the reports by these groups. Each group has consulted the communities they represented through surveys, live meetings and other methods, and/or have developed use cases that helped the group to come to the set of recommendations produced. The reports have gone through a public review phase and are now available for anyone who is interested in collaborate in these areas. They are already being used as input for future GBIF global work plans. If you are interested in knowing more about these groups, please contact Dmitry Schigel from the Secretariat <dschigel@gbif.org>.
• #9: In 2016, two more groups will be started: One on invasive alien species (IAS) and one on molecular biodiversity research. If you are interested in knowing more about these groups, please contact Dmitry Schigel from the Secretariat <dschigel@gbif.org>.
• #11: An additional task force was put into place in 2015 on mobilizing bio-collection data. Progress The task force adopted the data-knowledge-application value-chain framework as its operating vision. Institutions have made good progress in the data-to-knowledge link but the knowledge-to-application link remains weak. Global survey of NHC carried out to gauge the digital readiness of the world’s bio-collections, perceived benefits of and impediments to digitization. Out of more than 600 respondents, 14% of collections lack a digitised database and 5% report no plans to digitise their collection Primary impediments include funding, time and lack of administrative buy-in The task force recommends that the data-knowledge-application value-chain framework be used in developing compelling business cases that can attract funding to mobilize data of strategic importance for research, policy and decision-making. Interim report outlining progress expected by April 2016 Next steps Symposium on “Setting Global and Local Digitization Priorities” planned for the annual meetings of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) in Berlin, June 20-25, 2016. Outcome will be a draft priority-setting framework for individual bio-collections institutions Develop roadmap documents to assist institutions in mobilising bio-collections metadata Hone and tailor bio-collections use-cases for specific communities to demonstrate the benefit of published, vouchered biodiversity data for science, society, governments, and the private sector across a series of thematic imperatives. Convene a major summit of key stakeholders including government, corporate and foundation institutions to develop a funding mechanism to complete the strategic, priority-based digitization of bio-collections data worldwide. If you are interested in knowing more about this group, please contact Siro Masinde from the Secretariat <smasinde@gbif.org>.
• #12: Significant untapped sources of biodiversity data are the surveys associated with environmental impact assessments (EIAs), carried out during the permitting process for development projects around the world. Tapping EIA-derived data will facilitate the involvement of the private sector and businesses in contributing to biodiversity data The GBIF led project with seed funding from Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) has engaged EIA practitioners and environmental authorities/regulators in West Asia including the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) on benefits of sharing EIA-derived data and the tools for doing it. Other partners in the project include UNEP-ROWA, Results of pilot project and progress made to advance mobilization of EIA data globally Workshop on 15-16 Sept. 2015 in Muscat, Oman, brought together consultants & regulators from 9 countries – Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar Participants identified challenges and barriers to data sharing, such as contracts that insist on strict confidentiality. But they also recognized many benefits and opportunities from such sharing, believing that the barriers could be overcome if a strong lead came from international bodies and national authorities. Workshop report and presentations available at following links Statement of Principles outlining the common beliefs of the diverse group of participants, on the advantages of sharing biodiversity data from environmental impact assessments, using accepted biodiversity information standards to enable those data to be reused in research and policy. A revised Best Practice Guide for publishing biodiversity data from EIAs will be available in English and Arabic soon A distance learning module to accompany the best practice guide will be available soon. A cloud based generic IPT for publishing biodiversity data from EIAs is already available for anyone interested in publishing such data. GBIFS is working on mobilizing initial example datasets and encourages nodes to help mobilize EIA data
• #15: This slide describes the steps taken towards the use of machine-readable licenses. Nodes who lead their own consultation (only country nodes were approached): Argentina, Australia, Belgium (and DRC), Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, US (and VertNet)
• #16: 24 country nodes agreed to handle the consultation with their publishers themselves. All other publishers, including all endorsed by non-country participants, were contacted directly by GBIFS Timeline: Nov 2015: provided country nodes with relevant materials (overview of relevant publishers, datasets and licenses, drafts proposed for communication). Other publishers contacted directly Response deadline (Jan 31, 2016) was extended to end of Feb 2016. In March 2016, some responses are still outstanding, but the majority of datasets (about 98%, accounting for >95% of occurrence records) can be assigned one of the three available licenses Some more responses still expected, as we are aware that some nodes are still in communication with their publishers. However, this should not hold the implementation
• #17: As part of the licensing package comes an update to the former data use and data sharing agreements as well as the addition of a privacy policy. The former two date back to before 2005, and required a review to adapt them to the current situation (new legislations, common interactions within the network, changes in the flow of data for e.g. citations etc). Slight changes in the titles (now: data user and data publisher agreement) were made to make it clearer that they are agreements between the parties involved. As licensing provisions change, the documents serve the need to communicate with publishers and users. In the case of the privacy policy, it serves both a legal requirement we need to meet, as well as informs users, publishers and network participants / nodes of the collection, use and disclosure of personal data at GBIF.org, to inform all concerned parties about personal data stored and used in various contexts (user registration; network membership and gbif.org; mailing lists; publishers; social media; cookie policy i.a.) All three documents are finalized and ready to launch together with the implementation of the CC licenses for all datasets (LINK?). They are not made public yet as they will be communicated as part of the licensing update package, but the texts can be made available to interested parties on request.
• #19: On the use of the software developed by the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) to build data portals, many GBIF Participants have already used it to develop their own portals. This slide summarizes the progress so far, with links to production servers and prototypes.
• #20: This slide summarizes the steps taken towards the reuse of the ALA software in the GBIF community. Next steps during 2016 include
• #22: The communications strategy released last year underpins all of these developments, with its emphasis on proposing and clarifying distinct audiences that GBIF deals with. These six audiences provide a critical means of testing and prioritizing features as well as content.
• #23: Serving these audiences better lies behind a coordinated effort to develop improved ‘explainers’ that cover key ideas and concepts. Volunteers across the network have already started the work of translating these clear, concise descriptive texts, some of which will be put to use in developing animated videos that further explain the subjects at hand. A few sample topics are listed above.
• #24: The programme integrated the previous mentoring and regional training support programmes into a single programme that allows Participants to compose projects made up of several different types of actions. There have been three calls so far: 2014, 2015 and 2016. There has been a good response from the community to these and 11 projects have been funded so far. In 2015 we performed a review of past capacity enhancement projects. Based on the findings of the review, we have been enriching the capacity enhancement section of the GBIF.org website to include project pages to better communicate the results of each project and tips for those planning new projects to learn from the experience of the network in past projects.
• #26: The capacity self-assessment guidelines were made available at GB22, following early testing by nodes from Belgium, Colombia, Madagascar and Togo. They are now being further developed to support the monitoring and evaluation processes for the projects to be funded as part of the Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) programme. All nodes are invited to complete the questionnaire and provide any feedback to nodes@gbif.org.
• #27: GBIF Secretariat is currently developing a questionnaire-based tool for assessing the capacity of biodiversity data holding institutions. The purpose is to assist institutions, especially BID grantees to: Identify their strengths, weaknesses and needs Improve data mobilization and management Track progress The five key areas proposed for self-assessment are: Strategy Digitization Publishing Curation Archiving Project grantees will be expected to carry out a self assessment at the start of a project, during mid-term and at the end of the project.
• #28: Country reports were developed in 2015 following a request from the Governing Board. National reporting service developed as a tool for: Tracking progress at the national level, including Aichi Biodiversity Targets Onward communication to national stakeholders Outreach to non-GBIF Participant countries   A consultation was lead on a prototype that lead to the production of the first reports available for GB22. The reports summarize statistics and other information on the mobilization and use of species data at the country level
• #29: Now the country reports have been added as a new feature in GBIF.org.
• #30: Regional pages is some of the additional functionality for GBIF.org planned for 2016.
• #31: After a successful pilot experience in 2015 during the global training event for Nodes associated to GB22 (http://goo.gl/ae2VTZ), the Secretariat plans to advance towards the use of digital badges within the GBIF community as a way to certify knowledge and skills, and publicly recognize contributions from members of the community. During 2016, the plan is to gradually expand the work done in the context of the BID programme, as a precursor to wider implementation across all GBIF work. The Secretariat plans to: Use capacity badges to certify knowledge and skills, specifically in the context of the BID capacity enhancement workshop on data mobilization that will be held in August. Use role badges to recognize the contributions by collaborators in the context of the BID community of practice whose work will start in June. ----------------------------------------- Some of the objectives of the implementation of badges are: To provide objective methods to measure and recognize talent in biodiversity informatics. To offer additional value and visibility to individual contributors to GBIF. To enable more accurate ways of measure the real impact of training and capacity enhancement activities supported by GBIF beyond the number of trainees and satisfaction surveys. To standardize requirements to access opportunities for training, project funding, etc. To align with global standards (Mozilla Open Badges) to allow interoperability outside of the GBIF community. Some nodes have already approached the Secretariat to explore options for implementation of similar mechanisms at the national level. If you are interested to know more about it, please contact training@gbif.org.
• #32: The BID programme is about to reach its first year of implementation. This slide presents some of its main characteristics.
• #35: The regional meetings in the Caribbean and the Pacific are modelled after the Africa Rising Conference, May 2015. The BID call for proposals in the Caribbean and the Pacific will open around September 2016.
• #36: BIFA is another capacity-related programme started in 2015. This slide summarizes the advancement so far.