%META:TOPICINFO{author="JohnWieczorek" date="1269534451" format="1.1" reprev="1.11" version="1.11"}%

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---+!! Historical <noautolink>%WEB%</noautolink> wiki site. Deprecated.

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*Note*: These Wiki pages are for historical purposes, they *do not* reflect the content of the current standard, which can be found at

* http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/index.htm

---PENDING ISSUES

Following is a list of issues under consideration for the Darwin Core and it's extensions under active Development:

---Darwin Core

* Should any of the existing element names be changed? Possible reasons to do so are a) consistency within the schema (Collector->Collectors), b) agreement with elements in ABCD or elsewhere (BasisOfRecord->RecordBasis), c) better reflection of the intended content of the element (Collector->CollectorsOrObservers), and d) now, if ever, is the time to make such changes. One reason not to do so is effect on existing installations, mappings, and documentation.

* LifeStage - should this element go into the Curatorial extension as a biological individual element?

* Sex - should this element go into the Curatorial extension as a biological individual element?

* Attributes - should this element go into the Curatorial extension as a biological individual element?

* Habitat - should this element be added to the Core? It is an attribute of the occurrence location? The following description is proposed: "A free text description of the environmental properties at the time and place of the collection or observation. Examples might include vegetation, associated species, substrate, moisture, topography, temperature, water quality, etc." This element would be fully compatible with ABCD's Gathering/Biotope/Text.

* EstablishmentMeans (or some other name such as Origin or PropogationType) - should ValidDistributionFlag be replaced by a new element in the Core with the following description? "The historical relationship of the occurrence to the cited time and place of collection or observation. Examples: 'wild', 'captive', 'cultivated', 'cultivated ex wild', 'persisting from cultivation'".

* Collector - should this element go into the Curatorial Extension to join CollectorNumber, or should CollectorNumber be in the Core?

* AssociatedSpecies - should this element be added to the Core or elsewhere? Description not yet proposed.

* ImageURL - This element has very limited capacity (a single URL to an image). It is likely to undergo change with any serious review. Should we consider a media extension and remove this element from consideration in the Core?

* TimeOfDay - Consider re-adding this element to the Core or using a time range as in ABCD (TimeOfDayBegin, TimeOfDayEnd).

---+Curatorial

* DateIdentified - the data type for this element should be changed from dateTime to DateTimeISO.

* VerbatimDateIdentified - should this element be added to the Curatorial Extension with the following description? "A free text representation of the date (and time) when the accepted identification was made, in its original format in the source database. Example: 'Nov-Dec 1998'."

* IdentificationReferences - should this element be added to the Curatorial Extension with the following description? "The literature sources or other references used to make the currently accepted identification of the specimen or observation." More or less compatible with ABCD's Identification/References/Reference.

* IdentificationRemarks - should this element be added to the Curatorial Extension with the following description? "Free text notes directly associated with the currently accepted identification." Fully compatible with ABCD's Identifications/Identification/Note

* PreviousIdentifications - should this element be added to the Curatorial Extension with the following description? "A free text list of one or more previous identifications applied to the specimen or observation." Fully compatible with ABCD's Identifications/IdentificationHistory.

* ReproductiveCondition - should this element be added to the Curatorial Extension with the following description? "The reproductive condition of the biological individual represented by the catalogued object or observation. Examples: "flowering", "fruiting", "spores", "pregnant", "lactating", "nonparous", "sterile"

* ValidDistributionFlag - should this element be replaced with EstablishmentMeans (see above) in the Core?

---+Geospatial Extension

* no pending issues

Following are links to archives of pending issues:

---++ * Schema Level Pending Issues:

* ContainingElement

* RequiredElement

* ControlledVocabularies

---++ * Element Groups Pending Issues:

* RecordLevel

* Taxonomic

* CollectingEvent

* DateTime Elements

* DateRange

* Locality

* GeoSpatial

* Biological

* References