Customizing VIVO.  There were some very interesting exchanges on the VIVO email lists this week regarding  customizing VIVO.

• On the ontology list, a discussion of ontology hijacking – when do we redefine elements of another ontology in order to "make things work."  How do we avoid doing this?  Is it ever appropriate?
• On dev all, a discussion with code regarding turning DOI in VIVO into clickable links to DOI landing pages.
• Also on dev all, a discussion with code for setting a profile to open in "View All" if the number of items on the page is low.  

Roadmap Process. We are entering week three of the public discussion of roadmap items.  I'll be on the Implementation and Development call this Thursday at 1 PM US Eastern to participate in the discussion, and answer any questions you may have about the process.  See Implementation Calls for call details.  All are welcome to attend.

Outreach and Engagement Work Group calls starting.  The Outreach and Engagement workgroup, co-chaired by Julia Trimmer of Duke and Kristi Holmes of Northwestern, will be restarting its regular call series beginning Tuesday, July 21 at 1 PM Eastern.  See Outreach and Engagement Interest Group for call details.  All are welcome.

Task Force Updates.  Lots of task force news this week:

• A new task force is forming.  VIVO in a Networked Research EcoSystem (NetRES), led by Jing Wang will consider approaches to data redundancy, including cross-linking VIVOs.  Results will be presented at a panel discussion at the VIVO Conference.  If you are interested in participating, please contact Jing Wang.
• The Asset Inventory and Recommendations Task Force will have draft recommendations for community review shortly.  Thanks to all who helped review the asset inventory and those who contributed suggested recommendations.  VIVO has accumulated a large collection of materials.  The task force will recommend ways for VIVO to slim down and organize its assets.
• The VIVO Contributed Software Task Force is also finalizing recommendations.  The group has reviewed methods for including contributed software in VIVO releases.
• The VIVO Implementation Documentation Task Force is developing a high level project plan view of a VIVO implementation that includes project management, data management, outreach and engagement, and technical development.  The high level view will provide structure for materials supporting each activity.  In addition, the group has significantly improved the VIVO Glossary.  Check it out!

The task forces are a key mechanism for improving VIVO. These self-organizing, time-limited, results-oriented efforts bring people together to get something done.  I hope you will consider participating in, or organizing a task force.  And thanks to all our task force members for their work to improve VIVO.

Nominations for Steering Group.  Another way to help the VIVO community is by serving as a Steering Group member.  Five additional members will be elected to the Steering Group this summer.  We have begun to receive nominations.  Elections will be held the week of July 20.  If you know someone who you feel would make a great addition to the Steering Group, please nominate them by dropping a note to Mike Conlon.  The current Steering Group is Dean B. Krafft, Robert H. McDonald, Melissa Haendel, Jon Corson-Rikert, Kristi Holmes, and Paul Albert.  Please consider who might join them.

Duraspace Board Meeting. As some may know, I serve as a board member of Duraspace.  I had the pleasure of attending the board meeting in Washington DC this past week.  The board reviewed finances, membership, strategy and the projects.  Duraspace stands as a strong supporter of open source and has helped VIVO organize its finances, membership, strategy, and governance.  I look forward to continuing to work with Duraspace.

Wiki Updates.  Have thoughts about the wiki?  Please drop me a note.  We are slowly improving content, organization, and formatting.  It's an interesting process.  We'll cut down on redundancy, and find appropriate homes for historical material.  We will engage more people in writing and editing.  As we move forward, I encourage you to participate.  When you see something to improve, please improve it.  If you see something to comment on, please leave a comment.  Recent Updates to the wiki can be found on the Search the VIVO wiki page.

I hope you enjoy this first official week of summer.

Go VIVO!

Mike

Mike Conlon
VIVO Project Director