Katydid CD ROM issues

[Hugh Wilson]

Some professional societies try to leverage the 'value' of hardcopy
publications by offering add space in journals.  While this effort is
limited by limited public exposure of the journals, it works to some
extent because the journals tap into a focused community or 'market'
that is served by commercial operations placing the journal adds.

Movement of this 'commercial' linkage for scientific publication on
the web involves several elements that are unique to the web.
Commercial websites are seeking exposure.  Thus, the 'service' that
could be provided, for a fee, by professional society websites would
be a pointer that is linked to the web-based commercial message.
Issues associated with 'conflict of interest' would have be to
resolved by society membership but, given the precedent established
for many hardcopy publications, this seems to be a relatively minor
problem.  The more significant problem involved relates to the
ability of a professional society to develop content that will draw
1) users with a technical interest in the taxonomic group that is the
focus of the society and 2) users from the general public.

If the membership of a given professional society could work together
to provide a 'knowledge base' service to the general public then
returns to the society, and the discipline it represents, would come
in the form of public recognition, via usage of the site, of content
'value'.  This could function to advance the mission of a given
society in different ways; increasing membership, promoting
'sponsorships', and generally providing a 'window' to the public that
could be used by the society to promote its mission and the
activities of its membership.

No doubt,  "taxonomists are terrible salesmen" and if we were
interested in 'sales' we would not be taxonomists.  On the other
hand, organized groups of taxonomists that are centered on specific
large taxa (plants, reptiles, insects, etc.) represent a distributed
knowledge resource that, if properly organized and presented in
digital form via the web, could 'sell' the scientific enterprise to a
*very* large (global) group of users.  Again, professional societies
of biological systematics are 'pre-adapted' for this type of digital
activity by established infrastructures relating to member
interactions for hardcopy publications, annual meetings, membership
directories, etc.


> Date:          Fri, 16 Jul 1999 09:35:37 -0700
> Reply-to:      Doug Yanega <dyanega at POP.UCR.EDU>
> From:          Doug Yanega <dyanega at POP.UCR.EDU>

> Rather than writing and posting a separate reply, I'll tack on Hugh
> Wilson's comment here:
>
> >  If professional
> >societies or working scientific groups can provide useful information
> >on the web for open public access, it will be *used*, and home sites
> >providing access to the data will be visited by many.  Given the
> >nature of web economics right now, this usage could (should) be used
> >by professional societies as leverage to harvest community returns
> >for community investment.  If professional societies were active in
> >this area, the potential for returns to those providing the
> >information, or at least the discipline, are high.  This is not the
> >case for web info nodes controlled by institutions, agencies, or
> >individuals that do not have direct contact with data contributors.
> >
> >So, I agree with Mary that "there is a potential here" that
> >professional societies should *make* time to explore.
>
> Web economics is such that most websites generate income by selling
> advertising space. Who exactly will pay to sponsor a web page on,
> say, a checklist and key for the water striders of the world? How
> much will they pay? Will they pay in *advance*, to get the research
> done? How does one deal with conflicts of interest? If there's
> exploration to be done, questions like that are the first ones to
> ask. Traditionally, taxonomists are terrible salesmen, as we've
> bemoaned here before, and the lack of ad-funded taxonomic websites
> is yet another reflection of this (though, admittedly, a lot can be
> attributed to that "conflict of interest" category above).
>
> Peace,
>
>
> Doug Yanega       Dept. of Entomology           Entomology Research

Hugh D. Wilson
Texas A&M University - Biology
h-wilson at tamu.edu (409-845-3354)
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/Wilson/homepage.html