1. GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION FACILITY GBIF Community Site
Alberto González-Talaván
Programme Officer for Training
October 2009

2. Summary Opportunities for collaborative work Baseline Concept
Technical platform
Calendar
Current features (alpha testing)

3. Opportunities for collaborative work
Task Groups (i.e. LSIDs, Content Needs Assessment…)
Training Networks (experts, language)
Collaborative projects (i.e. mentoring)
Standing Committees
Working groups (i.e Team and Forward Looking Groups)
ReBIFs and ThemeBIFs …
What is GBIF about but to work collaboratively?

4. Baseline
Several communication tools are available for the GBIF Community:
CIRCA system (groups + file sharing + mailing lists)
ListServ Mailing lists;
Wiki
To remark: low user friendliness
Difficult to retry past information (if possible at all)

5. Test installation at: http://elggtest.gbif.org/
Concept
Online social collaborative environment by and for the GBIF Community.
develop collaborative projects;
share information and expertise;
provide/ask for guidance;
hold fruitful discussions and debates;
make announcements and news postings;
gather regionally and thematically.
Test installation at:

6. Technical Platform The GBIF Community Site is based in ELGG
Open source software, deployable on open source platforms (Apache+PHP+MySQL) = 0 EUR in software licenses
Big user community supporting it
Easy to expand through plug-ins
Neutral (suitable to build work environments)
The complete list of requirements is publicly available.

7. Calendar Now! – Closed alpha testing phase
Nov-Dec 2009 – Open beta testing phase
Early 2010 – Official launch

8. Current features: alpha testing
User profiles
Users’ activity
Messages
Groups
Forums
Pages/Blogs
Status (twitter like)
File sharing (incl. pictures)
Shared calendar
Bookmarks
Followers/Collaborators
RSS
Multilanguage (interface)

9. How to contact GBIF: Web site: www.gbif.org Data portal: data.gbif.org
GBIF Secretariat
Universitetsparken Copenhagen Denmark
Phone:
Fax: