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Open Comcifs meeting

Dear Colleagues,

	I am starting to put together a program for our open Comcifs
meeting scheduled for Aug. 5.  Since this is an open meeting, we may have
a few guests present, so it seems to be a useful time to review where we 
are before our closed meeting a few days later.  I propose that we
devote the first part of the meeting to a BRIEF review of current Comcifs
projects, leaving time at the end for the presenters to questioned on
where they think cif is going or where they see problems.

	I give below a draft program.  Please let me have your comments on
it.  If there are items you would like to report on, or would like to see
someone else report on, let me know and I will try to work them in.  If
you see your own name on the program, can you let me know if you will be
able to report, or let me have the name of someone else who will be
present to report in your place?


OPEN COMCIFS MEETING draft program
----------------------------------

1. Review the current dictionaries 
----------------------------------
(short talks, aim for 5 minutes each): The talks could describe the scope
of the dictionary (what subjects are covered), the current status of the
dictionary and names of members of the team preparing the dictionary.
Please avoid giving a detailed technical descriptions unless there are
important problems related to the future development of Comcifs (e.g. the
need to include binary information in a cif).  With 10 dictionaries to be
described, it is important that we all be brief. 

   Approved dictionaries
     coreCIF 2.1         McMahon
     pdCIF               Toby
     mmCIF               Fitzgerald
   Dictionaries close to approval
     imgCIF/CBF          Hammersley or Bernstein
     msCIF               Madariaga
   Dictionaries in process of compilation
     symCIF              Brown
     sasCIF              Malfois
     magCIF              Sikora
     dsCIF               Proffen
     rhoCIF              Mallinson
 
2. Review of current software development 
-----------------------------------------
(aim for 10 mins each, it might be useful to distribute a list of
available programs to those present):

   Fortran-based:        ciftbx, RasMol, imgCIF libraries    Bernstein
   non-Fortran-based:    ciflib etc from Rutgers             Westbrook
   user-friendly 
    check/edit software: CCDC Python                         Edgington
 
3. Future directions for CIF
----------------------------
(10 mins)

   Does anyone have anything to contribute under this heading?
 
4. Open discussion 
------------------
(all the speakers form a panel and field comments from the audience).


Note that there will be a closed meeting of Comcifs (including observers -
if you receive a copy of this message, you are invited) on Aug 9.  This
will be a chance for a more serious discussion of future directions. Since
we will all have attended the open meeting, we will all be familiar with
the current status of the cif project and will thereofore be able to
immediately turn our attention to plotting our course for the next
triennium.

	Please send me any comments on this suggested program.

			David  

P.S. If anyone needs financial assitance to attend these meetings,
please contact me.  I have some funds available for those who would not
otherwise be able to attend.
 

*****************************************************
Dr.I.David Brown,  Professor Emeritus
Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, 
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Tel: 1-(905)-525-9140 ext 24710
Fax: 1-(905)-521-2773
idbrown@mcmaster.ca
*****************************************************