Dear All,
Today I have added some links to the CF website Standard Names, Documents and Discussions pages. All three pages contain the same new links to the CEDA vocabulary manager status pages for standard names. The "status of current work" page shows the status of standard names proposals that are in progress at this moment. The "completed work" page is an archive of resolved standard names proposals (i.e., names that are either now published in the table or proposals that were rejected for some reason). If you would like to see what the pages look like you can also follow these links directly:
Current Status:
http://ndg.nerc.ac.uk/vocab-term-editor/viewCurrentStatus/http%253A%252F%252Fvocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk%252Flist%252FP071%252F18
Completed Work:
http://ndg.nerc.ac.uk/vocab-term-editor/viewCompleteStatus/http%253A%252F%252Fvocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk%252Flist%252FP071%252F18
Please note that the current status page will change frequently. I am in the process of updating it to show all the standard names that are in the various stages of discussion on the mailing list (at the time of writing not all proposals are shown, so please don't think yours has been forgotten if it doesn't appear immediately). I think it is important to point out that the status pages are in no way intended to replace the CF mailing list, but rather to complement it. Proposals for new standard names should still be made to the mailing list and discussed there as usual. I hope that over time the status pages will become the first port of call for anyone wishing to check on the progress of a standard name proposal. The following is a more detailed description of how to interpret the pages.
When a new proposal is made I will create an entry for it in the CEDA vocabulary manager so that it appears on the current status page. I will update all entries periodically as the discussions proceed. Thus the status page is intended as a quick way of checking the progress of each standard name proposal without the need to trawl through lengthy mailing list threads. The entry for each name contains a link to the most recent relevant posting on the mailing list and this is intended to make it easy to look back at the detailed discussion if needed. The titles of all relevant mailing list threads are shown, which can be useful if a discussion has diversified into multiple threads or someone has changed the subject field (incidentally, I'd rather people didn't change the names of threads unless it is strictly necessary as it just makes it more difficult to keep track of things).
The entry for each name lists the current status of the proposal and the background colour of the entry also reflects the status. Proposals can be: new (blue background) - just proposed to the list, no comments yet received; under discussion (a rather appropriate muddy brown background); accepted (bright amber background) - the discussion of this name is concluded and it will be added to the standard name table at the next update; submitted (green) - an update to the standard name table is underway and the name is in the process of being published.
Once a name has been successfully published in the standard name table on the CF website and in the NERC vocabulary server its entry is moved from the current status page to the completed work page. The completed work page has just two colour codes: completed (grey background) - the name is now published in the standard name table; rejected (red) - the proposal was rejected after discussion on the mailing list, for example, because a duplicate name already exists or because the proposer withdrew the name from consideration.
This probably all sounds a lot more complicated than it really is! I hope that the pages will prove to be a useful reference and that they will be easier to use than they are to describe. Hopefully the completed work page will grow into a useful archive of past decisions on standard names (and reasons why we took those decisions) which will complement the much more detailed record in the mailing list archives.
Best wishes,
Alison
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Alison Pamment Tel: +44 1235 778065
NCAS/British Atmospheric Data Centre Email: alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
R25, 2.22
Harwell Oxford, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K.
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Received on Tue Nov 29 2011 - 06:50:15 GMT
