Data sharing - Why we should try

[Walter Berendsohn]

> Hugh Wilson wrote:
> How does
>  http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/biocise/TheProject/IntroCollab.htm
> show how a simple coupling of databases works?  Can I find plant
> specimen records by a query to this system?  I might be missing
> something, but all I can find is links to info about the collections.

The discussion was started on the subject of the ASPT membership
directory, which - I assume - doesn't serve speciment records neither. The
example I gave illustrates the linking of two databased directories of
biological collections - the web pages you see are actually generated from
the databases. The structures of the underlying databases are quite
different, they had evolved long before the collaboration was agreed.

> is to include the maximum number of data resources, large and small,
> I - again - don't think that this approach will work.

OK, this is a rather different statement. Certainly considerable
resources have to be dedicated to reach this aim. Is it worthwhile making
the efforts in standardization, coordination, modelling and the many
attempts at implementation necessary in the evolution of such systems?

I think yes. The aim is worthwhile: common access to collection resources
can greatly increase the productivity of systematists, and it also greatly
enhances the utility of collections for other people (e.g. from the
environmental sector, species protection, etc.).

I think it also becomes feasible. Over less than 10 years, knowledge
_about_ collection information has increased considerably, preparing the
base for effective data capture, collaboration and - yes - sharing of and
common access to the databased information itself. A process of
standardization within the community (albeit slow for lack of dedicated
resources) is taking place. We are starting to look beyond our individual
subdiscipline, even beyond boundaries to other disciplines, and we are
starting to learn from successful attempts elsewhere (e.g. the library
community). Technical possibilities have also been increasing rapidly. All
this has to be applied and tried out and that takes time and resources.

A lot of thinking, planning and trying on the part of systematists and
curators is spend on this process. Well spent, I believe, because it is
contributing to current efforts to make systematics "competitive" as a
science once more. Well spent also because the actual data capture is and
will be a considerable effort, so we better make sure we do it right.


                          Walter G. Berendsohn
       Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem (B)                  A
          Koenigin-Luise-Str. 6-8, D-14191 Berlin, Germany