Agenda 12-14 Sept. 2002
Participants
The list of participants is unusual for us in that we will have fewer regular members, but several who serve a liaison role with other projects. This configuration should help us get a fresh perspective on the project, and should facilitate international collaboration.
Regular and experienced members:
1. R. Peet (UNC, Project PI, ESA Veg Panel)
2. Mike Jennings (USGS Gap Analysis, Ex Comm, 1 of 3 project co-PIs, past Chair of ESA Veg Panel, long-time participant)
3. Don Faber-Langendoen (NatureServe, long-time participant, ESA VegPanel, generally in charge of implementation and testing on NatureServeend, to the extent that Denny Grossman does not have time)
4. Dave Roberts (Utah St U, long-time participant & member of ESA VegPanel Exec Comm)
Staff
5. Mike Lee (NCEAS, Full-time Project Staff, living in Vancouver BC)
6. John Harris (NCEAS, Head Programmer, retiring soon, partial attendance at meeting owing to other obligations)
Liaison members & new members
7. Brad Boyle (U AZ, first-time participant, liaison with Brian Enquist group building a tropical forest stem-map database)
8. Stephan Hennekens (Netherlands & TurboVeg, building interconnectivity, arrives Friday am)
9. Susan Wiser (NZ Liaison, first-time participant)
10. Jerry Cooper (NZ Liaison, first-time participant)
11. David Tart (USFS. ESA Veg Panel, first-time participant, liaison to USFS database activities, some uncertainty about attendance)
General goals
1. We need to review the progress to date and figure out what to do next to refine our products through the end of the first funding cycle, which ends in December. Our primary employee on the project, John Harris, plans to be rotating off very soon (gone half of Sept, all of Oct, and then for good at the beginning of December). Our goal is to launch a prototype of VegBank very soon (late September?), so as to start accumulating user feedback and public comment. We especially need to assess what additional work is critical for that launch, and which additions can wait for a subsequent upgrade.
Please review the current status of the product. There will be a lot of evolution this week, so perhaps best to look on or after September 1.
2. We need to assess progress to date and future needs regards our desk-top client tool VegBranch.
http://vegbank.nceas.ucsb.edu/vegbranch/vegbranch.html
3. We plan to discuss with Wiser, Cooper, Boyle, Tart and Hennenkens how best to interface our varied efforts and assure maximal compatibility.
Cooperators and new members need to read the supporting data model documents.
For information on VegBank and the plots data model:
http://vegbank.nceas.ucsb.edu/vegbank/pubs/NBII_Jan02_VegBank_files/frame.htm (IE)
http://vegbank.nceas.ucsb.edu/vegbank/design/plots.html
For information on the taxonomic datamodel:
http://vegbank.nceas.ucsb.edu/vegbank/pubs/NBII_Jan02_Taxa_files/frame.htm (IE)
http://vegbank.nceas.ucsb.edu/vegbank/design/plants.html
Also, it might help to read the grant proposal for the next phase of the work.
http://www.bio.unc.edu/faculty/peet/lab/Proposals/NSF_VegBank_2002.pdf
4. Long-range planning. We should discuss long-range planning and how to proceed with execution of phase two. For this it would help if all were to read the proposal linked above.
3. Draft Schedule
Thursday, 12 September.
8:30-10:00 VegBank progress report and joint evaluation
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15:11:50 Workgroups evaluate & discuss VegBank
11:50-1:15 Lunch
1:15-3:00 Workgroups evaluate & discuss VegBank
3:00-3:15 Break
3:15-5:00 Business rules, policies, requirements for launch
Friday, 13 September.
8:30-9:15 Cooper & Wiser -- New Zealand initiatives
9:15-9:30 Discussion
9:30-9:45 Hennekens : European initiatives
9:45-10:00 Discussion
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-10:30 Boyle : U AZ initiative
10:30-10:45 Discussion
10:45-11:00 Tart : USFS initiatives
11:00-11:50 Strategy discussion -- global standards for data exchange and data models
11:50-1:15 Lunch
1:15-3:00 VegBranch
3:00-3:15 Break
3:15-5:00 Planning and prioritization: 12 Sep : 15 Dec, 2002.
Saturday, 14 September.
8:30-10:00 Phase 2 : review & discussion of major goals and components
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15:12:00 Phase 2 -- implementation