UIS Informatics Commission

Looking for a UIS Informatics President

An opportunity to advance cave and karst documentation

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An opportunity has arisen for someone who is keen on improving and facilitating all forms of cave and karst documentation: the UIS Informatics Commission needs a new President after its inaugurating president stepped down from 36 years in the role.

The Commission is active on several fronts, and has the benefit of a technically oriented Vice-President. We are now looking for a new leader who:

• is passionate about cave and karst documentation.
• is keen to promote the benefits of our work to the general speleo community, and to the relevant scientific, management, and cave protection communities.
• has a vision for the future of the Commission and its work.
• is keen to encourage our existing team of volunteers in their various roles.

Examples of the Commission's work to date:

Already published

• Survey & mapping:
  • Basic cave mapping symbols.
  • Surface mapping symbols.
  • Survey & mapping grades.
• Linked Data facility - KarstLink.
• Multi-lingual Dictionary - 300 concepts in 28 languages so far.
• Cave & Karst Glossary - 2700 terms so far.
• Worldwide cave periodicals catalogue and exchange mechanism.
• Data dictionary for cave data with 600+ fields.
• Speleo subject classifications.
• Chapter on cave databases and documentation in Encyclopedia of Caves (2nd & 3rd editions).
• Contributions to the development of the Karst Information Portal.

In progress

• KarstLink Linked Data ontology further development, especially for in-cave measurements and for new KarstLink applications.
• Survey & mapping:
  • Artificial cavity symbols.
  • T-Lidar 3-D cave scanning.
• Karst Data Interchange (a simple data transfer format).
• Data Transfer Guidelines (sharing vs. protection).
• Continued development of the Multi-lingual Dictionary and Glossary system.
• WikiCaves liaison (Global online cave database).
• UIS Bibliography Commission liaison.
• Karst Information Portal liaison.

You can find out more detail about the Commission and the work that our volunteers are doing from our website and our forums:
Website: http://uisic.uis-speleo.org
Forums: http://uisic.uis-speleo.org/forum

How to apply

As there may be more than one applicant for this position, please send an email to Peter Matthews (matthews@melbpc.org.au), setting out why you would be the best candidate. Also happy to discuss via Skype, Zoom, phone, or whatever.