HISCOM Teleconference, October 2014

ATTENDEES
Alison Vaughan (MEL – Chair), Niels Klazenga (MEL), Jim Croft (CANB), Greg Whitbread (CANB), Aaron Wilton (CHR), Nick dos Remedios (ALA), Wayne Cherry (NSW), Eleanor Crichton (AD), Donna Lewis (DNA), Robyn Lawrence (ABRS), Helen Thompson (ABRS)

APOLOGIES
Anne Fuchs (CANB), Rebecca Pirzl (ALA), Michelle Waycott (AD)

Feedback from CHAH
CHAH approved the new role of HISCOM Assistant Chair which has now been incorporated into the HISCOM Terms of Reference.
 * HISCOM Assistant Chair

HISCOM Terms of Reference have been circulated to CHAH for endorsement and a response has been requested following the CHAH AGM 10-12 November 2014.
 * HISCOM Terms of Reference

CHAH have agreed in-principle to support attendance at FCIG meetings. If the local HISCOM representative is not available then an alternative HISCOM member will attend. In which case, CHAH suggested that it should probably come in the form of an application to the CHAH travel funds.
 * FCIG attendance

Update on HISCOM Actions
ALA are using GitHub for the time being https://github.com/AtlasOfLivingAustralia. Issues are open to everyone; anyone with a GitHub account (free) can log issues/comment and follow specific repositories e.g. avh-hub to track changes. ALA are also looking at options for a future logging system that will better cater for inputting and tracking a range of feedback (e.g. new ideas to bugs). Nick informed HISCOM that the ALA is looking at implementing an email tracking system so there is a paper trail of the issues being logged. The avh email account would be used.
 * GitHub (from Rebecca)

Image metadata was also discussed. Dave Martin sent an email at the time of the HISCOM AGM September 2014 regarding image metadata. Potential privacy issues around extracting content of EXIF data were discussed. It was noted that EXIF data can be manipulated, and we shouldn't rely on EXIF data for rights and attribution information. Image metadata needs to be discussed further. Aaron will discuss an Audobon Core extension for IPT with Markus Doering.

AVH communications
MELU news item has been prepared and is ready to publish; it is to be added to the AVH homepage before the newsletter is finalised. This is a result of the AVH newsletter layout taking sometime and layout options are currently being finalised.
 * MELU news item

Niels provided a new layout for the AVH homepage which incorporates AVH news and the ability for users to subscribe. It was agreed that ideally limited scrolling on the AVH homepage and no more than 3 news items to be displayed. The white space on the left-hand side is to be filled with additional content. The unsubscribe was discussed and agreed that it was acceptable to have the unsubscribe option in all emails (apart from the first) and not on the AVH homepage. Action 1: Provide new images for the AVH home page to Alison (All) Action 2: Notify HISCOM members when to encourage staff to start subscribing to the AVH news feeds (Alison) Action 3: Approach graphic designer to produce some mock-ups for the AVH homepage whilst designing the new AVH logo (Aaron)
 * AVH front page

The idea of an AVH Facebook page was discussed. It was agreed that it should not be a marketing tool, but should focus on engaging with AVH users. The focus of the AVH Faceboko items will be centered around real stories relative to AVH data. It was discussed and agreed that a Facebook account be created for AVH and Alison to become the primary administrator in her current ALA CCC role. Jim suggested additional administrators for AVH Facebook as it becomes more established. It was agreed that a Twitter account is not necessary at this time. Action 4: Raise the idea of an AVH Facebook page with CHAH, and create page if they agree (Alison)
 * AVH social media

HISPID review update
Niels informed HISCOM that a workshop is planned for 17-19 February 2015 in MEL to review HISPID. Niels, Ben, Aaron and Anne are on the HISPID review working group. The GitHub wiki will be used to collate issues regarding HISPID. An article will be prepared by the end of November 2014 and circulated to HISCOM for comment. Action 5: Draft an email regarding HISPID issues and circulate to HISCOM members for comment (Niels)

ALA funding proposals update
Alison to receive ALA funding proposals by Monday 3 November and to circulate them to HISCOM Wednesday 5 November. HISCOM members are to vote, 1 vote per institution by Friday 9 November. The proposals will be made available to CHAH for the AGM November 10-12 2014. There might be some flexibility for projects to extend beyond June 2015, but substantial progress needs to be made by the end of June for reporting purposes. Action 6: Circulate ALA Funding Proposals to HISCOM for voting on 5 November 2014 (Alison) Action 7: Vote on the ALA Funding Proposals and email Alison by Friday 7 November 2014 (All)

NZVH update
Aaron reported this has been stalled and they are trying to get providers moving (mainly university herbaria). End of December 2014 is the focus for getting the data in of the new standards. Two providers are currently running. Working towards a demo site ASAP before Christmas 2014. A presentation of the demo at ASBS was discussed and requires further discussion.

AVH facets
Aaron reported concerns with regions (i.e. IBRA) being different in NZ. Nick suggested AVH facet groupings need to be the same as ALA for the moment. General comments on the facet groupings: Collector should not be miscellaneous, Types Status doesn't belong in the Taxonomic facet. HISCOM members are to review the spreadsheet provided. Action 8: Review the facet groupings and provide comment to Alison by Friday 7th November 2014 (All)
 * Feedback on facet grouping – please review draft feedback prior to the meeting (see also: http://203.101.225.82:8080/avh-hub/occurrences/search?taxa=#tab_mapView)

It was discussed whether or not we create a new facet in AVH called 'Island'. Nick suggested not as it's too difficult to implement. IMCRA layer already exists in the ALA and should be reviewed to determine whether this is a suitable spatial dataset for depicting Australia's offshore Islands. It was agreed that whichever spatial dataset is used that a buffer from the coastline be created to incorporate anomalies. The width of the buffer is to be decided upon once the spatial datasets have been selected. Action 9: Check if the IMCRA layer is suitable for querying Australian islands (Alison) Action 10: Investigate spatial datasets for NZ offshore islands (Aaron)
 * Island facet in AVH

Observation records in AVH
There are about 17,000 non-specimen records in AVH (http://bit.ly/1rwJvWC) – 11,649 from PERTH, 3315 from CANB and 2690 from DNA. These show up in the demo site, but not in the current version of AVH, because we don’t include the Record Type facet in AVH (on the basis that all our records are specimen records). DNA records are records that contain associated images, so this data is appearing as HumanObservation and should be flagged as preserved specimen. Action 11: Determine what the HumanObservation records in AVH are and whether they should be omitted or included in the AVH (Ben, Donna, Greg)

Report from FCIG - actions for HISCOM
HISPID review working group is to follow this up and determine which HISPID concept is appropriate. It also needs to be determined if source institutions need to add a separate field to their database (i.e. DNA) to accommodate this data. Action 12: Inform CHAH that the BushBlitz identifier will be dealt with as part of the HISPID review (Alison)
 * BushBlitz identifier [see email from Niels, 17/10/2014]

It was discussed whether HISCOM endorse the recommendations made by Morgan Strong in his high-level accessibility audit of the ALA. Action 13: Discuss the accessibility audit and accessibility liability issues with CHAH (Alison)
 * ALA accessibility audit

MEL seems to be the only State/Territory Herbaria that subscribe to Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG). HISCOM encourage Herbaria to subscribe to TDWG as TDWG underpins the work we do. FCIG suggested that CHAFC take out a membership instead of individual institutions, but HISCOM considers it more appropriate for individual institutions to become members, if possible. The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) used to be a primarily North American organisation, but now operate globally, and are important for promoting the value of collections. HISCOM decided this was more a MAHC related group and to make MAHC aware of it. Action 14: Recommend to CHAH that Herbaria become a member of TDWG (or, failing that, that CHAH takes out an institutional membership) (Alison) Action 15: Suggest to Pina Milne (MAHC, Chair) to consider membership of SPNHC for CHAH (Alison)
 * TDWG and SPNHC membership

HISCOM agreed that Darwin Core field names should be used in the downloads where applicable. Action 16: Inform FCIG and ALA that HISCOM supports the proposal to use Darwin Core terms as column headers in the downloads (Alison)
 * BHL 2014-2016
 * Download field names

Not discussed
 * Nagoya Protocol

Not discussed
 * Involvement with development of GGBN standards

Not discussed
 * Relationship between records in AVH

Not discussed
 * Collective Access