Highlights for July 6, 2001

I. Key Department/Bureau News

• CBI Staff to Brief Taiwanese officials on NBII: Gary Waggoner, Susan Stitt, John Clark and Janice Little from CBI will be hosting a visit of 10 officials from Taiwan, Republic of China. The group is comprised of 3 University professors and 6 officials within the Taiwan Forestry Bureau, including the Director General, Dr. Yue-hsing Huang, and the General Secretary, Dr. Ting-hui Lu, of the Environmental Greenery Association. The Council of Agriculture of Taiwan has commissioned the Taiwan Forestry Bureau to establish a new Taiwan Biological Database Center (TBDC). The group is on a fact-finding trip to learn more about relevant US programs and activities and their operational experiences and future directions. Several USGS/BRD programs including the National Biological Information Infrastructure have been identified as relevant to this new Taiwanese initiative. Specifically, the group requested briefings on the NBII, BioBot, the GAP Analysis Program, the NPS Vegetation Mapping Program and it's related PLOTS database, and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System. The all-day visit to CBI will be held on July 10. (Gary Waggoner, Denver, 303-202-4222).

II. Agency Work on Presidential Initiatives

• NBII presents at Society for Conservation GIS annual conference: The Society for Conservation GIS is a global conservation and geographic information systems (GIS) organization with a membership of nearly 300 individuals and organizations. The Society works to assist conservationists worldwide in using GIS through communication, networking, scholarships, and training. The Society’s mission is to facilitate cooperation and information exchange between individuals who apply GIS for the conservation of the world's resources. The NBII will present two workshops, “NBII Partnerships in Data Sharing” and “ International Standards Organization (ISO) Metadata Standard Highlights and Update” at the conference to be held at La Casa Del Zorro in the Anza Borrego Desert, California on July 6-8, 2001. The “NBII Partnership” workshop will focus on NBII information resources and recent NBII2 regional and thematic node activity. Sharon Shin, USGS Center for Biological Informatics, and Robert Norheim, University of Washington-USGS Cascadia Field Station and NBII’s Pacific Northwest Node, will be co-presenters. The second workshop “ISO Metadata Standards” will highlight the development of the ISO metadata standard and the interpretation of the standard format. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230

• NBII-National Spatial Data Infrastructure 2001 CAP Awardee: The National Biological Information Infrastructure has been awarded a National Spatial Data Infrastructure grant to provide a three-day train-the-metadata-trainer workshop in Denver, Colorado. The workshop will host up to twelve participants in a highly interactive workshop to develop metadata training skills. The workshop will also include presentations on the Biological Data Profile and Shoreline Metadata Extensions. The workshop instructors are Lynda Wayne, FGDC Metadata Education Coordinator 2001 from North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis and Sharon Shin, CBI’s NBII Metadata Training Program Manager. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4320)

• NBII and NOAA Awarded Grant: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geophysical Data Center (Boulder, Colorado) has been awarded a National Spatial Data Infrastructure grant to develop web-based metadata training materials based on training materials being used by the NBII Metadata Training Program and the NOAA-Coastal Services Center. Sharon Shin, USGS-CBI, will provide consultation in the development of the web-based materials and NBII training materials. Ms. Shin will also develop a series of questions for each segment of the on-line materials. To proceed to the next segment, trainees must correctly answer a percentage of the questions and will be encouraged to review the sections where incorrect responses were given. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)

III. Notable Congressional Activity
Nothing to report this week.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries
Nothing to report this week.

V. Key FOIA Requests
Nothing to report this week.