The final version of this report has now been submitted.

Summary of Documentation Produced October 2005 to October 2006

Introduction

This is a summary of the documentation work associated with the TDWG Infrastructure Project between October 2005 and October 2006. The document types were defined in the December 2005 a Documentation Strategy-

• Type 1 documents are the normative parts of a standards. Examples of Type 1 documents are XML Schemas, human readable specifications that must be followed for compliance and controlled vocabularies. Type 1 documents are controlled by the TDWG standards process and are stable once ratified.
• Type 2 documents are parts of the standard that are non-normative (informative). Examples of Type 2 documents include examples, code and illustrations that accompany and clarify the standard. As parts of a standard they are also controlled by the TDWG standards process and are stable but not normative. Normative documents have precedence over non-normative documents.
• Type 3 documents are those that fall outside the standard. Examples of Type 3 documents are tutorials, guides, primers, wikis, discussion forums etc.

A “TDWG Standards Documentation Specification” is proposed as a new TDWG standard to govern TDWG standards (Type 1 and Type 2 documents). Templates and guides have been proposed for Type 3 documents.

• Charters All subgroups within TDWG must have a charter document that describes their mandate and core membership. The TDWG Online Environment provides a forms based application to develop charters.
• Meeting Reports All TDWG-related meetings must produce a summary document. A word template is provided to encourage effective, broad communication of outcomes.
• Primers All TDWG standards should be accompanied by an introductory document. This document should be understandable by those not involved in the development standard, and so encourage broad access to potential users.

The new TDWG website has a page that describes the current documentation policy.

Major documents produced during the year are listed below.

What goes where?

A frequent concern of authors and subgroup conveners is where to put documentation. Under the new collaborative environment four main locations for documents and their functions are clearly defined.

1. TDWG Wiki This is the place for anything that is under development or likely to evolve through time. It can be used to collaboratively develop documents and for discussion. Any registered user can edit the wikis.
2. Main TDWG Website Each subgroup convener or their delegate has edit rights to their subgroup pages. Outputs of the subgroup (i.e. documents that have been finalised and will not changed) should be uploaded here. This is the 'public face' of the subgroup and is the point that users of standards and new group members will first see. It is therefore important that it presents a unified picture of the subgroups work.
3. Standards Repository Documents that form parts of formal standards (Types I and II) are stored in the standards repository. When a standard is proposed the documents are loaded into the repository where they are managed through the ratification process.
4. rs.tdwg.org This is a space for hosting documents that will be accessed at machine level. This area is not designed for human readable documentation other than that which forms part of such documents – XSD annotations and RDDL documents for example. Some documents that form part of a standard will be hosted both here and in the Standards Repository. Documents in the Standards Repository are normative. Experimental documents may also be hosted here during development of standards. Documents in the 'rs' domain may be polled frequently by machines and it is therefore important, for technical reasons, that the space is kept clear of large, rarely accessed documents. Write access to the 'rs' domain is via WebDAV? and is controlled by the TDWG Online Environment administrator.

Standards (Documents Types 1 and 2)

All standards, proposed standards and former standards are stored in the standards repository.

• Process Document (this will be included in the repository after the St Louis meeting).
• Standards Documentation Specification
• LSID Applicability Statement

Charters

Charters describe the remit and core members of subgroups. They are compiled using a form within the collaborative environment and form the home page for each subgroup on the TDWG website subgroups section

• ABCD
• Natural Collections Descriptions Group
• SDD
• Process
• Technical Architecture Group
• Globally Unique Identifiers
• Taxonomic Names and Concepts
• TAPIR
• TDWG Infrastructure Group
• ISIS (Introduced Species Information System) No Charter Entry Yet but we have a word doc. Does Nickie need Typo3 access?

Missing to date

• Economic Botany
• DarwinCore
• Geography
• Geospatial Interest Group
• Imaging Group
• Literature Group
• Observational Group

Primers (links?)

• SDD
• Taxon Concept
• ABCD
• TAPIR

Meeting Reports

http://www.tdwg.gbif.org/subgroups/meeting-reports/

• GUID-1
• GUID-2
• TAG-1
• ABCD
• Geospatial - written enquiring about
• TAPIR - written enquiring about
• NCD - written enquiring about..

Non-Standards Specifications

• TAPIR Spec from Charles - will link to from report. Standardisation process will begin after St Louis meeting.

TDWG Infrastructure Project

The TIP has produce 18 official documents over the past year. All the documents are available in the TIP Document Archive. Key documents include:

• TDWG Infrastructure Project Milestones - a summary of the milestones for the TIP.
• TAG Roadmap 2006 - A summary of a technical architecture for TDWG and plan for its adoption.
• Documentation Specification for TDWG Standards - A specification for new TDWG Standards.
• Requirements for the New TDWG Website

[Lee - which are your key documents]

GUID Documents (Lee: maybe worth cross-referencing things like roadmaps, applicability statements?)

• http://www.tdwg.gbif.org/subgroups/guid/documents-reports/

-- RogerHyam - 11 Sep 2006