bonap/mip

[Doug Yanega]

Hugh Wilson wrote:

> This presents an awkward situation with regard to scientific
>citation, i.e., reference to a dynamic (changing) data display, that
>will be a part of all digital systems.  To provide 'firm ground' do
>site developers:
>
>1.  Archive old (dated) systems to allow stable citation
>2.  Tag changes to allow the user to track updates/changes
>3.  Focus (both 1 and 2 require time/$$ input) on keeping the data
>(and web interface) current and allow the process of scientific
>citation adjust to dynamic data displays
>
>There might be other developmental options.  Any comments?

There is a relatively simple compromise solution. Make formal updates
regular and periodic, annually or semi-annually, with a list of submitted
changes that accumulates in between updates. Each updated version gets a
new version number, and citations refer to version number. Old versions are
archived.
        Taking care of item #2 is a bit trickier, I think, and I'd say it
has a low priority, especially if time and money are limited. Look at it
this way: even if it is done, it will probably be done so that each new
version only lists changes made since the previous version. If someone
encounters a 20-year-old citation and wants to check what changes have been
made in those 20 years, they've got a lot of work ahead of them, to scan
through all those updates. Having all the changes in the entire database
listed is not going to make their job all *that* much easier than if they
simply compare the cited version with the latest version, for their taxon
of interest. The benefit of the extra labor is minimal, I'd think.

Peace,


Doug Yanega       Dept. of Entomology           Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315
                  http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82