1st International e-Conference on Germplasm Data Interoperability: Overview

The 1st International e-Conference on Germplasm Data Interoperability is now over. It consisted of four (4) sessions which took place between 6 and 20 of December 2013 and was co-organized by Bioversity International, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agro-Know Technologies and supported by the agINFRA EU project.  The aim of the e-Conference was to bring together stakeholders in the area of plant germplasm and traits. The participants were encouraged to discuss the current status of the interoperability between the different data sources and resources, such as the metadata schemas and classification systems used. In this direction, the e-Conference aimed to focus on the Linked Data approach to be followed in order to enable the linking of data from heterogeneous data sources and in various data formats.

Indeed, the e-Conference managed to bring together various stakeholders including:

• people working with and responsible for germplasm aggregators such as Matija Obreza from Genesys, Theo van Hindum from EURISCO and Dag Endresen from GBIF,
• people responsible for national germplasm inventories/databases, such as Maria-Antonietta Palombi (Italian National Germplasm Database)
• people working with germplasm metadata and vocabularies, such as Dag Endresen (Natural History Museum of Oslo) and Éamonn Ó Tuama from GBIF
• people with experience in the linked data approach, such as Luca Mateis (Bioversity International), Valeria Pesce (EGFAR) and Pierre-Yves Chibon (ex-Wageningen University, now Red Hat)
• people working with germplasm standards and large networks, such as Elizabeth Arnaud (Bioversity International) and Michael Marus (CGIAR)
• people working not only with plant germplasm (in vitro) but also with traits (in vivo), like Elizabeth Arnaud (Bioversity International) and Marie Angelique Laporte from iDiv.

The e-Conference had the following structure:

1. Session 1 (6/12/2013, Synchronous): The vision of Linked Germplasm Data (Video, Google Event page)
2. Session 2 (11/12/2013, Synchronous): Data providers' perspective on current status & use of data and metadata for germplasm (Video, Google event page)
3. Session 3 (19/12/2013, Asynchronous): Set up an infrastructure for germplasm data (Google event page)
4. Session 4 (20/12/2013, Synchronous): Standard and metatadata for bringing germplasm data to breeding/in situ/on farm data (Video, Google event page)

All presentations are available at the website of the e-Conference. The AK team was actively involved in the organization of the event (both Giannis and me were in the Organizing Committee, which had a lot of work to do: from creating the program for the four sessions to finding the most appropriate tool/platform for the deployment of the e-Conference, let alone numerous emails/invitations/testing etc.!) as well as the actual implementation (I made three presentations in the first three sessions/Giannis also made one, and the introductions in Sessions 1 & 2!). The participation of AK was focused on the aims, objectives and outcomes of the agINFRA Germplasm Working Group, which has been working towards the harmonization of the germplasm standards as well as the development of a linked germplasm data approach.

agINFRA Germplasm metadata analysis from Vassilis Protonotarios

The e-Conference was implemented using Google Hangouts, which allowed the presenters to share screens/slides and discuss while the audience could show a live stream of the presentations and comment in the page of the video or the event. We had some technical issues during the sessions (e.g. screen sharing not always working, full-screen sharing of presentations not working etc.) but in the end it was the content that mattered.

The comments received led some really interesting discussions and in fact there have been some of them which are going to drive things in the next months and move some steps forward towards the linking of the existing germplasm data sources and the work towards the adoption of common standards in all cases (where possible).

Overall, it was a really interesting and fruitful experience, which I hope that will enable the collaboration between the various stakeholders who actually participated in the meeting and will provide a "vehicle" for repeating the e-Conference during 2014, probably in a less formal way, enabling the frequent meeting of the stakeholders (e.g. in the form of e-seminars or workshops). As I mentioned during the e-Conference, I felt really privileged to have the opportunity to sit (at least virtually) next to such important people, who have been actively involved in the biodiversity and germplasm context during the last years and I feel that I have a lot to learn from them.

1st International e-Conference on Germplasm Data Interoperability: Session 2

Session 2 of the 1st International e-Conference on Germplasm Data Interoperability themed "Status of data and metadata for germplasm" included presentations on the metadata standards used in the various germplasm data sources, presentations of germplasm data providers and aggregators of germplasm data as well as people who have been working with germplasm metadata. It was deployed using Google Hangouts, thanks again to +Luca Matteis who made all the necessary preparations and organized the Hangout. Despite the fact that it was the second time that we used this platform, we still had some issues like desktop sharing not working, participants disconnecting etc.

The session started with a very quick introduction to the Conference (again) by me; this time I was better prepared and had some more time to introduce participants to the scope of the Conference and the presentations of this 2nd session. The first presentation was made by +Matija Obreza from Global Crop Diversity Trust, who made a presentation of the GENESYS Germplasm Data aggregator. The next presentation (more in the form of discussion) came from +Theo van Hintum and +Milko Škofič who presented the case of the EURISCO germplasm data aggregator and the experience related to metadata adn data sharing between European genebanks. The next presentation was to be delivered by +Maria Antonietta Palombi, (from CRA) about the Italian National Germplasm Database; however, this was not possible due to constant connection issues. +Dag Endresen made a presentation of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) followed by my presentation about the germplasm metadata analysis that we did in the context of the agINFRA project.

agINFRA Germplasm metadata analysis from Vassilis Protonotarios

What I found really interesting about this session (apart from the presentations themselves) was the elaborated discussion among (mostly) the presenters; this was expected, as interesting issues were raised during the presentations. In addition, thanks to the use of the Google Event page, there were a number of comments and links shared between the participants, which was also useful and drove the discussion.

The recording of the 2nd Session is available through YouTube as it was automatically recorded; another convenience provided by Hangouts, while the presentations are available through the event's website.

I believe that this 2nd session was more well-implemented than the 1st one, despite the issues that we faced. Session 3, which will take place on 19/12/2013, will be asynchronous, meaning that presentations will be recorded as videos and shared with the participants of the Conference - there will be no live streaming or coordination. We hope that there will be some comments related to each presentation. Until then, stay tuned!

1st International e-Conference on Germplasm Data Interoperability: Session 1

Session 1 of the 1st International e-Conference on Germplasm Data Interoperability themed "The vision of Linked Germplasm Data" is now over. It was deployed using Google Hangouts, thanks to +Luca Matteis who set everything up for us. It was the first time that we used this platform for deploying a Conference, so we came across with some issues but they were solved on the fly.

The session started with a very quick introduction to the Conference by me; I felt really lucky to be able to participate to the same meeting with people who have spent many years in the biodiversity and germplasm domain and I was really honored to be asked to make the introduction to the e-Conference (and obviously too nervous to do so!). Then +Eliza Arnaud from Bioversity International made a keynote speech on "Interoperability of Agricultural Diversity Data". The next presentation came from +Michael Marus (CGIAR) (ICT Manager of CGIAR) who presented the "Data Management Landscape", sharing the CGIAR experiences on the topic. It was really interesting to know that CGIAR has adopted Open Access policy for its data, and of course related to the linked open data approach proposed by the e-Conference. Next was +Donald Hobern, (GBIF Director), who made an interesting presentation of the Global Biodiversity Information Outlook and discussed several data sharing issues in the biodiversity area. Then it was my turn to present the agINFRA Germplasm Working Group, a group which aims to enhance the interoperability between different germplasm data sources by developing and deploying a linked data approach. The links of the group with the Research Data Alliance (RDA) related groups were highlighted and the next steps were presented. 

The agINFRA Germplasm Working Group from Vassilis Protonotarios

The last presentation of the 1st Session was made by +Luca Matteis from Bioversity International, who presented the TDWG group of interest on ‘Semantics for Biodiversity’.

Session 1 closed with a short discussion on topics related to the theme of the session, driven by questions posed by the participants/audience of the e-Conference. The recording of the 1st Session is available through YouTube as it was automatically recorded; another convenience provided by Hangouts, while the presentations are available through the event's website.

I admit that I was pretty pleased with the result, despite the fact that I was rather nervous for sever reasons (e.g. the use of a platform that we haven't used in the past, my participation in a Conference about biodiversity and germplasm for the first time etc.). I believe that all went well in the end and that we will all be more prepared and relaxed during the Session 2, which will take place on 11/12/2013. Until then, stay tuned!

International e-Conference on Germplasm Data Interoperability

 

The “International e-Conference on Germplasm Data Interoperability” will take place between December 6th and December 20th, 2013. The aim of this e-Conference is to bring in contact stakeholders in the area of plant germplasm and traits and discuss the current status of the interoperability between the different data sources and resources, such as the metadata schemas and classification systems used. In this direction, it aims to focus on the linked data approach to be followed in order to enable the linking of data from heterogeneous data sources and in various data formats.

The e-Conference will consist of both synchronous and asynchronous sessions, facilitating the engagement of participants in both online and offline discussions and including real-time presentations using web-based tools. The event is jointly organized by Bioversity International, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Agro-Know Technologies and supported by the agINFRA EU project. Major players in the biodiversity area, including the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), EURISCO and GENESYS will be invited and involved, along with the Agricultural Data Interoperability Interest Group of the Research Data Alliance (RDA). The participants will also sessions on germplasm data providers as well as the technical infrastructure need for linking the various germplasm data sources.

According to the tendative agenda, the e-Conference will consist of four (4) sessions, each one of which will be allocated in one week in the aforementioned period:

1. The vision of Linked Germplasm Data (6/12/2013, synchronous)
2. Status of data and metadata for germplasm (11/12/2013, synchronous)
3. Setting up an infrastructure for the Germplasm Data (11-19/12/2013, asynchronous)
4. Semantic standards and metadata needed for bridging the germplasm data to the breeding/in situ/on farm data (20/12/2013, synchronous)

The synchronous sessions will consist of real-time presentations and discussions between the participants while in the case of the asynchronous session, it will consist of a number of presentations available offline, which can be commented and discussed between the participants. The expected audience of this e-Conference is bioinformatics and biodiversity researchers, linked data experts and stakeholders working with linked data.

You can find additional information at the e-Conference website, including the registration form.