COMCIFS 2023 draft report for your consideration

[Herbert J. Bernstein]

Dear James,
  Please include my middle initial, J, so I am identified as Herbert J.
Bernstein.  Even with the middle initial,
my name is very common.
  May I also suggest changing "In 2023 Stephen Burley was nominated as a
voting member to
replace John Westbrook." to "In 2023 Stephen Burley was nominated as a
voting member to
replace  the late, and sorely missed, John Westbrook who was a key
contributer to many
CIF features."
  Regards,
    Herbert

On Thu, Apr 4, 2024 at 10:01 PM James H via comcifs <comcifs at iucr.org>
wrote:

> Dear COMCIFS,
>
> Please see a draft report for COMCIFS for 2023 below. As this was due at
> the end of last month, I'd like to send it off to Chester on Monday. With
> apologies for that short turnaround time, if there is any important
> CIF-related news that I've missed please advise by Monday morning and I
> will edit it in - I'm 100 words below the new 500 word allowance.
>
> thanks,
> James.
>
> COMCIFS Report 2023
> ===================
>
> COMCIFS is responsible for development and maintenance of the
> CIF standard.
>
> Membership
>
> COMCIFS consists of a relatively large number of ordinary members, and
> a few members who cast votes in the case that consensus is not
> reached.  In 2023 Stephen Burley was nominated as a voting member to
> replace John Westbrook. Other voting members are James Hester
> (Chair), John Bollinger (Co-secretary), Brian McMahon (Co-secretary), and
> Herbert
> Bernstein.
>
> International Tables Volume G
>
> With some key dictionaries in flux and the fundamental chapters
> essentially complete, the focus of work on Volume G shifted to the
> latter chapters covering applications of CIF. A preview volume
> containing the current drafts of almost all chapters was exhibited at
> the IUCr meeting in Melbourne.
>
> Dictionary development
>
> After more than a decade, a new version of the core dictionary has
> been formally released. This is the first time the latest version on
> the IUCr website has been presented using the DDLm dictionary
> definition language and is the culmination of many years of work.
>
> Following this, a new dictionary for use with data spread over
> multiple data blocks has been published. This is part of ongoing work
> to allow CIF to handle more complex data sets containing related data
> originating from multiple sources in a rigorous way.
>
> In other news, both Quantum Crystallography and High Pressure
> commissions indicated interest at the IUCr meeting in developing
> discipline-specific dictionaries; the magnetic CIF dictionary saw
> significant additions from the Commission on Magnetic Structures; a
> working group was formed after the IUCr meeting to develop a crystal
> structure prediction dictionary; the imgCIF dictionary was placed on a
> firmer footing going forward after agreement to separate it out from
> the CBFLib distribution; and the powder dictionary expanded rapidly
> after many years of stasis.
>
> IUCr 2023
>
> COMCIFS ran a Dictionary Development Workshop prior to the IUCr
> meeting in an attempt to broaden the pool of contributors. Around a
> dozen attendees were introduced to the concepts behind CIF
> dictionaries and participated in live development of a toy dictionary
> using online tools.
>
> COMCIFS and CommDat were joint sponsors of a number of stimulating
> Microsymposia, and CIF was noted in a positive light by a number of
> speakers in other sessions.
>
> Looking forward
>
> In the run-up to publication of Volume G all dictionaries will see
> formal releases. Work is ongoing to finalise the non-core
> dictionaries, with particular focus on powder CIF.
> --
> T +61 (02) 9717 9907
> F +61 (02) 9717 3145
> M +61 (04) 0249 4148
> _______________________________________________
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>
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