a dream work: online counter for new species...

[Nico Mario Franz]

Your comment was informative, though I think there's a misunderstanding.
What I meant by "credit" was something that could be used as leverage to,
e.g., apply for a position, or secure funding, directly advance one's
scientific career, and so on. Print publications can rather immediately
achieve this for taxonomists, and exclusive internet publications -
however well credited to an author and lasting - aren't (yet,
unfortunately) as powerful in that department.

I don't think it's an accident that the true gems of internet taxonomy are
provided by researchers with relative job security. These invaluable
contributions shift the weight, but, as the authors of Codes seem to have
recognized, we don't have a critical mass yet.

For the individual researcher out to make a name, the safer (if ultimately
less useful) way is to produce something regarded as valuable in the
traditional "credit" system, i.e. a print publication. This (I think) is a
conflict that librarian don't experience.

Nico Franz



>The idea of an OCLC-like model for some intersection with the taxonomic
world >has been a part of the conversations of the uBio project for some
time as our >effort is oriented toward the library community. The most
compelling features >of this would be the preservation and attribution of
credit to contributors >to a given name record while promoting multiple
use of that information. >Clearly, any subsequent use of someone's
intellectual effort should be >imparted back to the contributor. This
model eliminates duplication in cases >of factual information and gives
credit where credit is due. [...]
>
>David Remsen
>uBio Project Developer
>Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole, MA 02543
>508-289-7632