Standards Working Group

Charter: Standards Working Group for the Wildfire Science & Technology Commons

Background:
The Wildfire Science & Technology Commons (WSTC) believes that avoiding devastating wildfires requires urgent, innovative, and collaborative solutions. The Wildfire Science & Technology Commons is a bold new initiative designed to accelerate technological innovations for wildfire management and mitigation. We are building a community platform around open data, cutting-edge science, AI, and shared knowledge.

Our mission is to bring people together to break down the barriers that currently exist between wildfire-related data, models, and tools. Today these resources are siloed, which slows down innovation. We have the opportunity to create a seamless, smart platform to enable solutions that revolutionize how we understand, respond to, and prevent wildfires.

Purpose:
The purpose of the Standards Working Group is to:

1. Define and implement a comprehensive tagging standards for data, models, workflows, and community networks within the Wildfire Science & Technology Commons.

2. Ensure that the standards reflects the needs of diverse stakeholders, including researchers, fire managers, policymakers, and technology developers.

3. Facilitate seamless discovery and integration of resources within the Commons through standardized metadata and tags.

4. Maintain and update the standards as new resources, technologies, and community needs emerge.

Scope:
The standards Working Group will:

1. Define Core standards: Develop a core set of tags and metadata categories for classifying data, models, workflows, and community networks within the Commons. This will include creating a standardized framework for resource identification, categorization, and relationships.

2. Community Alignment: Ensure that the tagging system aligns with the needs and language of the wildfire management and research community, integrating input from various stakeholders.

3. Iterative Development: The standards will be developed iteratively, with regular reviews and updates to reflect new trends, technologies, and community inputs.

4. Interoperability: Ensure the standards is interoperable with existing frameworks and standards in related fields, allowing for cross-platform and cross-disciplinary usage of the Wildfire Commons resources.

5. Tagging Guidelines: Develop guidelines for community members to tag their contributions (data, models, etc.) effectively, ensuring uniformity and clarity across the platform.

Process:

1. Committee Formation: A Badge Working Group will be formed upon review of nominations, with the goal of 10-15 group members.

2. Coordination: The group will have a Chairperson responsible for setting the agenda and coordinating the monthly meetings. Additional subcommittees may be formed as needed to dive deeper into specific priority areas.

3. Phased Development: The standards will be developed in phases, beginning with high-level categories for data, models, and workflows, followed by more detailed subcategories based on stakeholder feedback.

4. Collaboration: The group will collaborate with other working groups within the Wildfire Commons to ensure consistency in terminology, tagging practices, and platform functionality.

5. Review and Feedback: Regular reviews will be conducted to gather feedback from the broader Wildfire Commons community, incorporating suggestions for improving the standards.

6. Recommended standards: The group will provide an standards report for the Wildfire Commons for data, models, workflows, and the community network.

Outcomes:

• Improved Discoverability: A robust tagging system built from published vocabulary that enables efficient search, discovery, and integration of data, models, workflows, and community networks within the Wildfire Commons.

• Standardization: A standardized framework for resource classification that enhances interoperability and collaboration within and beyond the wildfire research community.

• Sustained Impact: An adaptable standards that grows with the Commons, ensuring that it continues to meet the needs of its diverse user base.

Nominations accepted at: https://forms.gle/89XhjEKwzrSye8SG9
Submit your nominations by December 13, 2024