Co-ordination structure of GBIF Germany (As of 2009)

Documentation only, for more recent information see: http://www.gbif.de/gbif-de/Co-ordination

Resolution of the node co-ordinators, 18^th November 2002

The co-ordination structure consists of three, closely associated levels (Fig. 1) to ensure an efficient division of work among the seven nodes of GBIF Germany in order to realize the following aims:

• effective integration of the GBIF-D system with GBIF international
• identification and utilisation of possible synergies both in the international framework and within Germany
• mobilisation, combination and fortification of all initiatives and resources to achieve a German contribution following GBIF's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

Documents on the discussion process and early programme development detail the setting-up of the German GBIF System.

Fig. 1: Co-ordination structure of GBIF-Germany

Node Co-ordinators Committee

• Members: Node project leaders plus the respective speaker of the IT-Experts Commission and of the Committee itself.
• Function: integrating policies, providing guidelines and over-all directions; co-ordinating institutionalisation and development; scheduling the content of Status Seminars; public relations; integration of resources which currently not take part in the GBIF-D system.
• Meetings: Node co-ordinators meet at least once a year, convened by the speaker, or at request of committee members.
• Speaker and deputy speaker are elected by the node co-ordinators for a period of three calendar years. Responsibilities: representing Committee resolutions; membership in German delegation to the GBIF Governing Board; (subject to agreement of BMBF) representation in the GBIF NODES Committee; editing of common pages in the www.gbif.de domain; maintaining the information flow between the GBIF-D System and the international activities of GBIF.
• Members: Walter Berendsohn, Christoph Häuser, Gerhard Haszprunar, Renate van den Elzen, Regine Jahn, Wolfgang Kießling, Erko Stackebrandt (Dagmar Fritze), Dagmar Triebel and Michael Türkay.
• Speaker Walter Berendsohn (reelected 2009): Deputy Speaker: Dagmar Triebel (since 2009)

IT-Commission

• Members: IT-Experts nominated  by the nodes (max. one per node) who are permanent staff of the institutions directly involved in the node implementation plus the speaker of the Node Co-ordinators Committee and the organiser of the IT-Expert group.
• Function: cross-cutting function; implementation of decisions made by node co-ordinators and GBIF International; identifying and forwarding problems to IT-Experts for discussion, technical co-ordination of  funding proposals.
• Meetings: Convened by the speaker of the Commission or at request of at least  four nodes. The IT-Commission meets at least once a year.
• The speaker is elected by the IT-commission. Responsibilities: representing proposals of IT-commission to the IT-Experts and node co-ordinators; communication between the nodes.
• Representatives: Gregor Hagedorn, Norbert Hirneisen, Joachim Holstein, Jürgen Hoppe, Manfred Kracht, Lothar Menner, Karl Lampe, Stefan Schmidt Speaker: Anton Güntsch Deputy speaker: Gregor Hagedorn

IT-Experts Group (homepage)

• Members: open upon invitation for all experts who are involved in the implementation of components of the GBIF-system or in other projects directly engaged with the supply of information in the GBIF-System.
• Function: co-ordinating and allying software developers, exchanging experience and development of synergies; formulating recommendations for the IT-Commission.
• Meeting: Meetings and workshops are organised as required.
• The Organiser is elected by the node co-ordinators until recalled. Responsibilities: organising the work of the group, organising workshops and the general communication process among experts; maintaining the information flow between IT-Commission and Experts Group.
• Organisator: Gerhard Rambold