COMCIFS 2023 draft report for your consideration

[Brian McMahon]

Hi James

Looks very good.

[1]
 > preview volume ... drafts of almost all chapters

Perhaps "of most chapters"? I personally wouldn't describe around
three-quarters as "almost all".

[2] Is it worth mentioning that DOIs are being assigned to newly
published dictionaries, or is that still considered work in progress?

[3] Ongoing involvement by COMCIFS with "checkCIF for raw data" and
Raw Data Letters should be mentioned.

Regards
Brian


On 05/04/2024 03:01, James H via comcifs 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.