COMCIFS 2018 draft report

[kaduk at polycrystallography.com]

Hi, James:

This report looks fine to me.

Jim Kaduk

On 2019-03-21 19:37, James Hester wrote:
> Dear COMCIFS,
> 
> Please see below a draft report to the IUCr executive from COMCIFS for
> 2018. If anybody receiving this message knows of any other CIF-related
> developments that you think are worth including, please let me know.
> Any software developments?
> 
> all the best,
> James.
> =========
> 
> New dictionaries
> 
> A dictionary defining datanames for topological descriptions
> ("TopoCIF")
> was submitted by Vladislav Blatov and Davide Proserpio and approved by
> COMCIFS in June after consultation with the topological community.
> A symmetry-mode dictionary is currently being discussed by a
> specialist group.
> 
> Legacy dictionaries
> 
> Almost all legacy IUCr dictionaries have been rewritten to use an
> updated dictionary definition language (DDLm).  The modulated
> structure dictionary and electron density dictionary have not yet
> moved to DDLm.
> 
> International Tables Volume G
> 
> COMCIFS members are closely involved with the preparation of
> the second edition of International Tables Volume G ("Production
> and exchange of crystallographic data"). This work has led
> to clarification of some of the foundational standards. Further
> information is available in the report of the International
> Tables editor.
> 
> Macromolecular standards
> 
> The wwPDB is responsible for a large and rapidly expanding collection
> of CIF definitions that encompass concepts and techniques used in the
> macromolecular community. The wwPDB continues to develop powerful
> tools for easy deposition of, and access to, data in mmCIF/PDBx form,
> and continues to encourage an active community of users.
> 
> Interactions with other standards groups
> 
> Herbert Bernstein represents COMCIFS on the NeXus international
> advisory committee (NIAC).  In 2018 NIAC approved continuation of work
> on tools and standards that would allow wwPDB datanames to be stored
> and retrieved from NeXus files.
> 
> COMCIFS is also closely involved with the IUCr Committee on Data
> (CommDat).
> 
> Looking forward
> 
> As flagged last year, an ever-shrinking group of people is drawn upon
> to support CIF maintenance and development. This situation is not
> sustainable, particularly as the first generation of CIF experts move
> into retirement. This situation did not improve in 2018.
> 
> --
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