[Digir-dev] Request for a DiGIR Teleconference

[Hobern, D. <DH...@gb...>]

To all members of the DiGIR development community -

 

Many of you were present at the recent DiGIR protocol discussions at the
TDWG meeting in Brazil.  We discussed the current definition of the protocol
and the progress of the projects to develop DiGIR software.  Some threads
have subsequently been covered via e-mail.  Major points have included:

 

*	Practical implications of using separate request and response
schemas (i.e. using one schema, such as Darwin Core, as the basis for
constructing requests and another for formatting the results to be
returned).
*	Discussion of the possibility of using XPath to identify query
elements from request schema rather than XML Schema substitution groups (and
possible future migration to XQuery).
*	Consideration of the implications of using schemas with nested
repeating elements.

 

Unfortunately some key players were unable to join us in Brazil and we have
much still to resolve.  This is particularly urgent for the members of the
BioCASE project, which needs to start delivering its own implementation of
the protocol within the next few months.  GBIF similarly needs a stable
protocol for exchange of specimen and observation data.  The GBIF work
programme requires this protocol to be identified early in 2003 so that data
exchange can start within the year.  For both of these projects it is
critical that we agree the protocol specification as soon as possible.
Software deliveries can follow later.

 

Other issues will apply specifically to the development and delivery of the
software currently being developed under SourceForge.  Dave Vieglais has
suggested the following topics which will require attention before a
complete version 1.0 of the DiGIR protocol software can be released:

 

*         Versioning (This applies to the protocol as well as to software
versions)

*         Other (programming) language implementations

*         Default user interface for DiGIR provider sites?  Human readable
metadata and query form for the site?

*         Administration tool for configuring providers

*         Registration in public UDDI vs. private registry?

*         SOAP or XMLRPC interface?

*         WSDL for DiGIR provider 

*         Schemas

o        Issues for supporting derived schemas (e.g. Dublincore ->
DarwinCore ?)

o        Multiple inheritance

 

For these reasons we would like to arrange the following:

 

1.	Collect responses to this e-mail answering the questions below.
2.	Arrange a teleconference for mid January to allow us to identify
roadblocks and establish a plan for the year (including scheduling
subsequent teleconferences and a face-to-face meeting).  
3.	Hold subsequent teleconferences and/or a developer meeting
(February/March?) for as many of us as possible to get together to solve
issues.

 

Please take the time to answer the following questions:

 

1.	Would you be free to participate in a teleconference on Wednesday,
15 January (same date for everyone) at 5am in Tsukuba, 7am in Canberra, 9am
in Christchurch, 12 midday in San Francisco, 2pm in Kansas, 6pm in Sao
Paulo, 9pm in Paris/Berlin/Copenhagen, lasting for one or two hours?  This
is the best time I can find to accommodate everyone that I believe will
actually be doing work on DiGIR development in the next year (particularly
Australia, New Zealand, the US, Brazil and Berlin) although I realise that
it is very unfriendly for the Far East.
2.	Would you be prepared and able to travel to a 2 or 3 day meeting to
work on the DiGIR protocol and associated software?  I think that California
might be a sensible venue if most of us were to attend, but alternative
suggestions are welcome.
3.	Do you expect to use the DiGIR protocol to exchange data within
2003?  If so,

a.	What schemas do you expect to use to model requests and results?
b.	Identify any critical dates for your projects.

4.	Do you expect to develop any DiGIR software in 2003?  If so,

a.	What components will you be developing (Provider, Portal
(federation), Client)?
b.	Will you be developing on the SourceForge code base or separately
c.	Will your components be available for others to use?

4.	Can you please comment on a proposal from the BioCASE team to make
certain changes to the DiGIR protocol schema (see
http://www.biocase.org/temp/protocol/BioCASEproposal.htm
<http://www.biocase.org/temp/protocol/BioCASEproposal.htm> ).  The changes
proposed are:

a.	Add a Capabilities request to query schemas supported by a Provider.
b.	Replace substitution groups with XPath expressions.
c.	Add a Transformation element to identify an XSL style sheet which
the Provider should use to transform the output before returning it.
d.	Replace the existing logical operators with AND, OR and NOT.

5.	Please suggest any agenda points you would like to have covered in a
teleconference.

 

Please respond to this group (DiG...@li...) and we
will put together an agenda and arrange the teleconference.

 

Many thanks,

 

Donald Hobern, GBIF Program Officer for Data Access and Database
Interoperability