Cost recovery and the support of Systematics

[christian thompson]

I appreciate and agree with  Piotr's points, especially the Steve Job's comment. Likewise for John's, but ...

However, I don't feel the systematics can ever hope to make enough money off of sales of CD-ROMs, etc., to pay the costs of doing the job. The only way the systematics community is going to get the support it needs is to convince people (=governments) that biosystematic information is a critical part of the scientific INFRASTRUCTURE, same as highways are to business entreprise, etc.  We need lots of support, and the costs are "recovered" by more food, better drugs, higher standard of living, etc., as most biological research is dependent on unique taxon identifiers (nomenclature) and proper identifications of taxa. So, I believe the proper approach is to make GOOD products and see that they are widely disseminated. Then maybe our contributions will be better appreciated, etc.

Why figure on selling only a 100 or 150 CDs to fellow grasshopper specialists. Why not make it cheap** and sell 500 to all kinds of bug people and perhaps few other naturalists? And maybe at a lower cost more University libraries and perhaps even a public library or two might buy them. I suspect the pictures alone are enough to sell if the price is low. BUT MOST IMPORTANTly, the more copies that get into circulation, the more people will see what useful things systematists do, etc. and perhaps we will get more support.

The other route is to try to cost recover. That leads to the obvious taxpayer response: "At the prices XXX  is charging they don't need any support" or "They are fleecing us." When in reality one can not ever hope to fully cost recover. 

My boss is reading TAXACOM and reminds me that I should tell all that my first message was about PRODUCTION costs alone.  Hence, for example,  I should mention that one of the items on the Diptera Data Dissemination Disk is a Fruit Fly Expert Identification System along with Fruit Fly Information Database. These items cost USDA more than 5 years of time (estimate 15 people years) and about $550,000 in special grant funding above our normal salary and operating costs.

**I can't help to say in response to Piotr's Steve Job coment: Yes, Macs are great, but if money is what you want why take the Job's approach over the Gates'   The differences is between millions and billions. 

As for the comparisons between book and CD-ROM publishing costs or amount of information disseminated, etc., one does not set airplane ticket prices on the basis of what a stage coach ride would cost. 


F. Christian Thompson
Systematic Entomology Lab., USDA
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D. C. 20560
(202) 382-1800 voice
(202) 786-9422 FAX
cthompso at sel.barc.usda.gov