Report prepared for the Experts Meeting Towards the Implementation of a Global Invasive Species
Information Network (GISIN), 6-8 April, 2004. Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Page 8
8/30/2004
Meeting Process
In preparation for the Experts Meeting on
Implementation of a Global Invasive
Species Information Network, an online
community was created and hosted by the
National Biological Information
Infrastructure (NBII) at http://my.nbii.gov.
The GISIN online community facilitated
discussions and document/resource
exchange among international IAS
information managers, database developers
and managers, researchers and other
parties interested in the successful creation
of a GISIN. The main goals and discussion
points for the meeting were derived from
those issues raised in online discussions
and from the results of online surveys
completed by GISIN online community
members.
On Tuesday, April 6th, 2004, the meeting
commenced with introductions and
greetings from the meeting coordinator
Annie Simpson (NBII) and Jeffrey Fisher of
the United States Department of State
(sponsor). Members of the GISIN Planning
Team were introduced, as were each of the
morning’s presenters and their
presentations, and a brief description of the
agenda was presented to the participants.
Each day of the three-day meeting was
broken out into sets of three oral
presentations followed by breakout group
discussions. Each set of three oral
presentations included one example each of
a theoretical database, a centralized
database, and a distributed database
system approach.
On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon
participants reconvened for presentations of
summary breakout group reports. Breakout
groups were divided into the following topic
areas: Developing Databases in Practice
(Content), Developing Databases in Theory
(Infrastructure), Developing Databases &
Capacity Building (Capacity Building),
Financial and Organizational Framework
(Organizational Framework), and Aquatic
Invasive Species (Nonindigenous Species
Database Network (NISbase) collaboration).
Each breakout group consisted of one or
two group leaders who were responsible for
directing discussions, and supported by
rapporteurs responsible for note-taking and
presenting summary reports at the end of
each day.
On Thursday morning, participants were
introduced to the members of the newly
elected six-member interim Steering
Committee. Participants briefly described
new achievements and tentative
collaborative agreements resulting from
their attendance at the meeting; and the
group initiated the development the
document now known as the Baltimore
Declaration. The meeting was adjourned at
noon on Thursday, April 8th, 2004.
In addition to paper-handouts and materials
for oral presentations, electronic posters
were displayed on a rotational basis during
refreshment, mealtime, and breakout group
In May 2004, transcripts of the entire
proceedings of the meeting were made
available to members of the GISIN online
community with accompanying electronic
presentations and handout materials.
Additional materials including further
elaborations on issues raised at the meeting
were distributed to the members through the
GISIN online community after the meeting.
GISIN community members continue to
share information and discuss the future of
the GISIN through emails and the online
forum at http://my.nbii.gov.
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