The work group chairs met last Friday (5/1) with the VIVO steering group to review project progress and suggest some improvements in how the project works.  Two changes are being made now.  First, the working group leads will meet each month with the steering group.  This should help improve communication, keep the community connected, and encourage even more communication between meetings.  Second, the combined group recommended that I provide a weekly email to the community asking for help for on-going work, and passing along updates.  So here are some updates.

• The search for the tech lead position is in full swing.  We have a good number of qualified applicants and will continue to accept applications as we begin interviews.  If you know of people who would be great for the position please encourage them to apply.  You'll find the position description and the members of the search committee in the VIVO wiki here https://wiki.duraspace.org/x/MKAOB
• Justin Littman posted links to his orcid2vivo software.  See http://sourceforge.net/p/vivo/sfx-list/message/34075161/.  Justin's software can retrieve information in an ORCID profile and use it to update a VIVO profile.  What a great idea!
• Registration for the conference is open!  Register here:  https://www.etouches.com/ehome/vivo2015/register/ The workshop line-up is very strong, and submissions of contributed papers and posters are being reviewed by the program committee.  David Weinberger has accepted our invitation as a keynote speaker.  More on David here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Weinberger
• Have a background in visualization?  We are looking for a facilitator for a visualization task force.  The task force would develop recommendations for next generation visualizations for VIVO. See https://wiki.duraspace.org/x/WYYOB. 
• The telling VIVO stories task force (https://wiki.duraspace.org/x/z6kOB)  is looking for VIVO success stories.  Do you have one?  Please contact Julia Trimmer.  VIVO stories are brief case studies documenting concrete value generated by using VIVO.
• The implementation documentation task force (https://wiki.duraspace.org/x/1KMOB)  is up and running.  You may have received an email asking you to share your pain points in implementing VIVO.  What documentation should we have had?  What did  you find that was not helpful?  What works?  Please share your thoughts with one of the task force members.
• The contributed software task force (https://wiki.duraspace.org/x/uqMOB) is developing recommendations regarding locally developed apps and tools and how this software might be contributed to the VIVO ecosystem, increasing the value of VIVO.  If you have thoughts about this, or experience in other projects with contributed software, please share!
• Finally, the asset inventory task force (https://wiki.duraspace.org/x/DZsOB) is making good progress identifying all the stuff of the VIVO project.  The task force is interviewing key people on the project and we will ask for your help shortly in reviewing the assets and developing recommendations for consolidation and improvements.

You'll note that much of what goes on with VIVO is accessible via the VIVO wiki – http://wiki.duraspace.org/display/VIVO.  If you haven't already done so, you'll want to check it out.  Plans, documentation, meeting notes, and much more can be found there.  You'll find quite a bit of historic material (one might say "old").  Other material is more timely.  As task force work proceeds I expect you will see the quality of the material improve.  To help with this or any other VIVO effort, you will need a Duraspace username and password.  Takes one minute to get one.  Sign up here:  https://wiki.duraspace.org/signup.action

Go VIVO!

Mike

Mike Conlon
VIVO Project Director