[Taxacom] FW: DEVELOPING WORLD TO RECEIVE ACCESS [etc]

[Roderic Page]

I think one has to make a few allowances -- sociologists don't usually  
write the way scientists do -- the style of writing and use of language  
(including jargon) is different.

What I found interesting is that she questions the assumption that  
simply by putting stuff online, all our problems will be solved. To  
quote:

"I would argue that the prevailing expectations that digital resources  
will be developed ... as a broader cultural current, mean that detailed  
research on  who will use digital resources and how has been almost  
completely sidelined. There is  little requirement, in this climate, to  
justify an innovation by reference to an identified  group of users  
actually calling for it, to run carefully evaluated pilot projects   
demonstrating enhanced access and the meeting of needs, or to conduct  
usability studies  and detailed requirements analysis. The requirement  
for a digital resource is taken to be  self-evident. Users, and the  
practices to make use meaningful are expected to emerge  once the  
resource is in place rather than preceding and informing resources  
development.  This "if we build it they will come" expectation is built  
into the current political climate  which systematics faces, such that  
institutions cannot afford not to develop and promote  these resources.  
Users are key figures in the rhetoric of the discipline and of its  
funders,  but the detail of usability remains a low priority."

Now, I have an agenda here, which is that I think the majority of stuff  
that the taxonomic and biodiversity community has put online is  
actually nearly useless. There's a lot of static HTML out there,  
designed for people to read, not computers  to harvest, with huge  
redundancy and duplication of effort, poor or no linking between  
projects and data, and needless attempts to invoke patron saints (such  
as E. O. Wilson and Nelson Mandella), rather than deliver stuff that's  
actually useful.

Now, I'm all in favour of taxonomic literature online, but what does  
this actually mean, and how would it be useful? A bunch of poor quality  
scans of articles adds a little, but not a lot lot. So, are we talking  
about full text, say with embedded mark up and links to external  
taxonomic databases, etc?And yes, I'm aware of efforts to do exactly  
this. In the same way, whereas such a scheme would be great from my  
point of view, would this address the needs of somebody in the field,  
who perhaps isn't a trained taxonomist, and for whom English isn't  
their first language, and may not even have an Internet connection?

My point is that Christine is asking is to what extent putting stuff  
online is a carefully thought out response to our present and future  
needs, and to what extent it's a case of "everybody's doing it, it must  
be the thing to do". In the same way, Open Access sounds great, I'm all  
for it, and most of the stuff I've published in the last couple of  
years has been in Open Access journals, but as an editor of a society  
journal, it raises big issues about funding for scientific societies.

Sorry for the verbiage, it's just that I'm always intrigued when  
somebody takes the time to question assumptions that seem "self  
evident".

Regards

Rod



On 7 Nov 2006, at 19:27, Doug Yanega wrote:

> Rod page wrote:
>
>> For a slightly different perspective, I stumbled across an
>> interesting  essay by Christine Hine that asks some interesting
>> questions about the  irresistible move to Open Access. For the link
>> and some related  material, see
>> http://iphylo.blogspot.com/2006/11/politics-and-practice-of-
>> accessibility.html
>
> Actually, I'm not so sure that Christine's essay is a different
> perspective, as it is talking about different forms of data. The
> essay focuses very heavily on sharing of specimen-based information
> and collection holdings via digital media. It is also quite nebulous,
> but that's not the point. I can't find anything in it whatsoever that
> talks about digital publication (e.g., of species descriptions) and
> what a shift to digital distribution would mean to traditional
> publishers.


------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
----------------------------------------
Professor Roderic D. M. Page
Editor, Systematic Biology
DEEB, IBLS
Graham Kerr Building
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QP
United Kingdom

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