skype call on CRM COST action & MSCA

[Vladimir Alexiev]

Dear all,

You may know about the intention to propose a CRM-related COST action in March.
There has been a lot of interest lately and a lot of support.

Currently Dominic Oldman from the British Museum and myself are moving this.
We need wide input from the community to determine the action scope.
So far the following topics have been proposed (some by Dominic, others by me):

0. To support the continuing evolution of CIDOC CRM.
CRM is unique in that it is an ISO standard, but it evolves much faster and with less bureaucracy compared to other ISO standards.
1. To support the creation (and dissemination) of a mapping reference (mapping memory) for the mapping of cultural heritage data to the CIDOC CRM based on the expertise of a wide range of cultural heritage and domain experts from museums, archives and libraries.
2. To create and establish guidelines for the implementation of CRM and associated implementation issues (e.g. URI policy)
3. To allow wider consultation on the tools necessary to facilitate the implementation of CIDOC CRM both in terms of infrastructure and user orientated applications.
4. To coordinate CIDOC CRM activities over a variety of different projects and support collaborative initiatives.
5. To improve the tools for online collaboration on CRM specifications and best practices, e.g. issue tracking, transcription taking, etc
6. To streamline the production of RDF realizations of CIDOC CRM, i.e. ontologies.
7. To improve the dissemination and accessibility of CIDOC CRM information, through a better website and other online presences.
8. To improve knowledge sharing and education, through the organization of workshops (e.g. the annual "Practical Experiences with CIDOC CRM") and summer schools; and the creation of online CRM tutorials and training materials.
9. To support the collaborative development of CIDOC CRM extension ontologies in specific areas (e.g. bibliography, archeology, museum data), notably but not limited to FRBRoo, CRMdig, PRESSoo, etc.
All the preceding items equally apply to such extension ontologies.

After the scope is agreed and items are grouped into Work Groups, we'll start writing the proposal.
We'll appreciate your help: I think we'll put up the proposal on Google Docs for anyone to comment and contribute.
(It's only 15 pages, but needs to be well thought-out).

Info about COST:
- overview: http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/TDP
- detailed guide: http://www.cost.eu/download/TDP_guidelines

COST actions are NOT Horizon2020 projects. *They don't have a consortium.*
They are inclusive: anyone can join after a proposal is won and the action starts.
Participants are countries and individual researchers, not institutions.
1. Two researchers per country can join "by right", assuming they can:
- get an email of support from the initial proposers (which will not be denied unduly)
- convince the respective National Contact Points that their country should join the action (which is easy since it costs nothing), and get an official approval letter
These initial researchers make up the Management Committee (MC) that makes all decisions about the action.
2. Then more researchers are invited by the MC to specific meetings (WG workshops, other workshops, summer schools, etc).
Typically the respective WG lead decides who to invite.
Individual travel can also be arranged through short-term scientific missions (STSM), etc

To be successful, a COST proposal needs a wide Proposer Network (at least 5 from different countries).
Proposers register on e-services.cost.eu and express their support for the proposal.
Evaluation is anonymous: the evaluators don't get the names and affiliatons of proposers, but only statistical information about them.

There was already a lot of discussion, and several people suggested a call to clarify things.
- I've made a poll to pick a slot for this call:
http://doodle.com/47sky8axyt54mr3k
- (Trond and Christos, I added dates at the end, please vote for them as well).
- When: I will close the poll on Sunday evening and announce the date & time here
- Where: the call will be on skype. Please contact valexiev1 or dkioldman at the announced time
- Duration: 1 hour
- Preparation: read the COST TDP overview and detailed guide
- Agenda:
-- Intro to COST and the TDP scheme
-- Which of the proposed activities (0..9) should be in scope? Do you want to add or remove some?
-- Grouping of activities into WGs
-- Any other discussion


**** Synergy with Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions ****
COST actions pay for travel (networking), not for work.
But they combine perfectly with MSCA, which pays for work in a researcher mobility context.
A perfect example of such action is http://www.itn-dch.org, they recently announced 19 or so PhD positions based on this action.
Here is the MSCA WP for 2014-2015.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal4/doc/call/h2020/common/1587755-03._msca_calls_wp2014-2015_en.pdf
I think that a MSCA proposal related to CRM, FRBRoo, and/or application of semantic technologies to DCH is quite viable.
The deadline of the first call is 9 Apr 2014.
Ontotext is interested in joining a consortium for such MSCA action, and we can work with both the RISE and ITN schemes.
But we cannot lead such initiative,
** So I implore the universities amongst the CRM community to please consider initiating such a proposal.

Best regards!
--
Vladimir Alexiev, PhD, PMP
Lead, Data and Ontology Management Group
Ontotext Corp, www.ontotext.com
Sirma Group Holding, www.sirma.com
Email: vladimir...@ontotext.com, skype:valexiev1
Mobile: +359 888 568 132, SMS: 359888...@sms.mtel.net
Landline: +359 (988) 106 084, Fax: +359 (2) 975 3226
Calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=vladimir%40sirma.bg