[Taxacom] ZooBank
Adrian Rissone
A.Rissone at nhm.ac.uk
Thu Sep 7 11:01:14 CDT 2006
Subscribers interested in ZooBank should consider attending the
Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG) meeting 15-22 October at the
Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The meeting
URL is <http://tdwg2006.tdwg.org>http://tdwg2006.tdwg.org. There will
be a whole day devoted to taxonomy, including a presentation by
Andrew Polaszek of the ICZN. It promises to be an interesting session!
Hurry! Normal registration for the meeting ends on 13 September
(after which a late registration penalty applies).
Regards,
Adrian Rissone
Executive Secretary, TDWG
-----Original Message-----
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taxacom-request at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Sent: Thu 07/09/2006 15:43
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Cc:
Subject: Taxacom Digest, Vol 6, Issue 8
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: ZooBank (Roderic Page)
2. Re: ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ] (Paul Kirk)
3. Re: ZooBank (Donat Agosti)
4. ZooBank - clarification (Frank Krell)
5. Re: ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ] (Richard Jensen)
6. Re: ZooBank - names in common use (Peter Stevens)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 14:28:19 +0100
From: Roderic Page <r.page at bio.gla.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank
To: TAXACOM <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Message-ID: <caefe976a01ba1c5d5f6c0f75d28a76d at bio.gla.ac.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
The downside of writing a rant is when somebody discovers that you've
been an edjit. Frank Krell has just told me that he found 22 papers for
Atta mexicana in Zoological Record, including the paper I made such a
fuss about.
What gives? Well, turns out my University only has access to ZR for the
period post 1995, and the paper
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02223555>http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02223555
dates from 1979. Hence, Frank finds it but I don't.
Now, never one to let an ugly fact get in the way of a good story,
observe how I turn this embarrassing cock up into yet another stick
with which to beat the poor folks at ZooBank. So, my access to search
results (never mind the actual literature) is limited by whatever
subscription my institution has! Imagine if Google did this, so that
results from a search while you are in a coffee shop are different from
those you get at work, or at home. To me, the notion of search results
varying based on subscription is a recipe for disaster.
Regards
Rod
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Professor Roderic D. M. Page
Editor, Systematic Biology
DEEB, IBLS
Graham Kerr Building
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QP
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 141 330 4778
Fax: +44 141 330 2792
email: r.page at bio.gla.ac.uk
web:
<http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html>http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html
iChat: aim://rodpage1962
reprints:
<http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/pubs.html>http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/pubs.html
Subscribe to Systematic Biology through the Society of Systematic
Biologists Website: <http://systematicbiology.org>http://systematicbiology.org
Search for taxon names:
<http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/portal/>http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/portal/
Find out what we know about a species: <http://ispecies.org>http://ispecies.org
Rod's rants on phyloinformatics:
<http://iphylo.blogspot.com>http://iphylo.blogspot.com
Rod's rants on ants: <http://semant.blogspot.com>http://semant.blogspot.com
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 14:40:48 +0100
From: "Paul Kirk" <p.kirk at cabi.org>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ]
To: <rjensen at saintmarys.edu>
Cc: TAXACOM <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Message-ID: <41449D86793662498ABD797EBD3D798530AB4A at ukcex.cabi.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I'm not saying it's simple but there has to be some sort of 'evolution'.
A few points:
Why publish in journals which charge $2500?
Where are the distribution cost when it's electronic and not thin sheets
of wood - if the latter is required (for effective publication/being
available) then local printing is the solution not centralized.
Load publication costs into grants - $2500 is insignificant compared to
staff costs for a 3 year project.
Pdf's are a click away from a word processing document.
I have a server which cost about $500 that runs five web sites, all
database driven (SQL Server) including the IF web site (million hits per
month) and the British Fungi site with a 1.2 million record table. Is it
slow ... No, do the CPU's sit around doing nothing 99.9999999% of the
time (like modern servers) ... No, are the disks all but empty (like
modern servers) ... No, but there is still enough space for everything
(and expansion) in 40GB.
And JSTOR ... do they really think that there are people out there who
would pay to see a page image of the 1898 volume of the Bryologist or
volume 1 of the American Journal of Botany?
Regards,
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Jensen
[<mailto:rjensen at saintmarys.edu>mailto:rjensen at saintmarys.edu]
Sent: 07 September 2006 13:47
To: Paul Kirk
Cc: TAXACOM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ]
Paul Kirk wrote"
"The primary systematic literature must be made available free to the
end user."
OK, then who pays for the costs of publication and distribuition? Who
pays for the costs of creating web versions (pdf or html) and
maintaining the servers? Most professional societies that publish
journals cannot afford to make these publications "free to the end
user." Perhaps Paul supports the proposed "open access" models in which
the author pays fees ($2500 per article in one case) to cover these
costs. If that's the model, I will have to stop publishing in referreed
journals, as will most of us.
I agree that we need easy access, and people who refuse to make their
publications available in some easily transportable electronic format
are obstructionists. But it's not as easy as simply declaring that this
information should be free and that all should have open access.
The models being used by many societies are to have "subscriber only"
access for a given period of time after the publication of the journal
issue. In some cases one year, in some cases longer. Then the
publication can be viewed "free" through JSTOR or other sites - assuming
you either have a personal subscription to JSTOR or access to a library
that subscribes (there are those pesky costs again).
Dick J
Richard Jensen, Professor
Department of Biology
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Tel: 574-284-4674
Paul Kirk wrote:
> Google is free to use ... and is highly valued by users; people in
ivory
> towers will never understand what goes on outside those towers ... and
> what of those who cannot subscribe due to economic reasons? I would
> never publish anything in a journal with such a policy.
>
> I'm sure we are all aware of wealthy people who buy works of art and
> keep them locked in bank vaults ... for what? The primary systematic
> literature must be made available free to the end user.
>
> Not much experience of things in copyright (have focussed on
> historically important works out of copyright) but a specialist
Society
> with a journal can be approached with a request for permission to scan
> up to, for example, the last 10 years. This should protect the income
> stream which for many Societies is their life blood. To their credit,
> the Mycological Society of America (as one of a growing number) has
> agreed to this. Get a few on board and the rest will more than likely
> follow suit for fear of the 'name and shame' list.
>
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>
[<mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu]
On Behalf Of Bob Mesibov
> Sent: 07 September 2006 10:48
> To: TAXACOM
> Cc: Hallan, Joel (biocat)
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ]
>
> Re the fungi and ant scanning/distributing projects:
>
> A leading authority in my field, who edits a specialist journal, has
> flatly
> refused to allow the journal to be made available in PDF form. He
wrote:
>
> "Not sympathetic with the idea of making the contents (text) available
> free
> to everybody in the world. Over the years I have paid for over half
the
> printing and postal costs, and work on the principle that people do
not
> value anything that is free. I think that users should shoulder some
of
> the
> cost of production, even if only a few actually ever buy parts or
> subscribe
> to the thing by volume."
>
> A second authority also refuses to let his published work be
digitised.
> Further, after I had scanned a large number of his illustrations
(vital
> in
> this particular group's taxonomy) and formatted them for a taxonomic
> website, I was told by the authority that he didn't want them to be
used
> in
> this way. He regards some uses of his work as outright plagiarism and
> wants
> taxonomists and others to go to his original publications.
>
> I'm wondering whether something similar has happened in the ant and
> fungi
> literature digitising, and if so, how these gaps in the digitised
> literature
> are handled by your bibliographic portals.
> ---
> Dr Robert Mesibov
> Honorary Research Associate, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
> and School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
> Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
> (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
>
> Tasmanian Multipedes
>
<http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/zoology/multipedes/mulintro.html>http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/zoology/multipedes/mulintro.html
> Spatial data basics for Tasmania
>
<http://www.utas.edu.au/spatial/locations/index.html>http://www.utas.edu.au/spatial/locations/index.html
> ---
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom mailing list
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>
<http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom>http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom mailing list
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>
<http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom>http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 16:03:39 +0200
From: "Donat Agosti" <agosti at amnh.org>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank
To: "'Roderic Page'" <r.page at bio.gla.ac.uk>, "'TAXACOM'"
<taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Message-ID: <009b01c6d286$6b685c90$825c010a at bern>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Rod makes a good point. So, all these colleagues around the world do have
access to the Internet
<http://clustrmaps.com/counter/maps.php?url=http://antbase.org>http://clustrmaps.com/counter/maps.php?url=http://antbase.org
, we know now for sure, since they looked at antbase during the last 8 days.
So, Rod makes the point, that he has a more restricted access to ZR than
Frank. What about all those outside a Northern University System?
It is almost obscene that we want to keep up the barriers to scientific
information we finally can torn down. It is like building up a zoological
garden with a glass wall, where the have-all watch the have-much-less.
Google frees for us a tremendous amount of data - see especially google
earth and google scholar. At the same time, the barrier to the access to our
digital journals (we are aware because of free google scholar) is raising
because subscription rates raise far above inflation rate, and thus more and
more of us loose journals at their universities.
And then there are all our colleagues in the developing world where most of
us get (or got) their specimens, who are living at our merci to get those
publications via email. Publications they will never be able to access
otherwise.
But Rod's point has also to do with scientific integrity. If I know, there
is so much data out which need to go into my scientific analysis, but need
to omit it, because I can not get access, then it is bad. And that is, what
selective access to scientific information is.
Donat
Now, never one to let an ugly fact get in the way of a good story,
observe how I turn this embarrassing cock up into yet another stick
with which to beat the poor folks at ZooBank. So, my access to search
results (never mind the actual literature) is limited by whatever
subscription my institution has! Imagine if Google did this, so that
results from a search while you are in a coffee shop are different from
those you get at work, or at home. To me, the notion of search results
varying based on subscription is a recipe for disaster.
Regards
Rod
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Professor Roderic D. M. Page
Editor, Systematic Biology
DEEB, IBLS
Graham Kerr Building
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QP
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 141 330 4778
Fax: +44 141 330 2792
email: r.page at bio.gla.ac.uk
web:
<http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html>http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html
iChat: aim://rodpage1962
reprints:
<http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/pubs.html>http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/pubs.html
Subscribe to Systematic Biology through the Society of Systematic
Biologists Website: <http://systematicbiology.org>http://systematicbiology.org
Search for taxon names:
<http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/portal/>http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/portal/
Find out what we know about a species: <http://ispecies.org>http://ispecies.org
Rod's rants on phyloinformatics:
<http://iphylo.blogspot.com>http://iphylo.blogspot.com
Rod's rants on ants: <http://semant.blogspot.com>http://semant.blogspot.com
_______________________________________________
Taxacom mailing list
Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
<http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom>http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 15:54:05 +0100
From: "Frank Krell" <f.krell at nhm.ac.uk>
Subject: [Taxacom] ZooBank - clarification
To: <Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Message-ID: <D6201E399478F243B7287A9C723CF12828D478 at FRANK.nhm.ac.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
forwarded on behalf of Andrew Polaszek, ICZN
______________________________________________
From: ICZN-AP
Sent: 06 September 2006 12:21
To: 'taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu'
Subject: ZooBank - clarification
Dear Colleagues,
The data currently accessible via www.zoobank.org are what comprises
Thomson Zoological's Index of Organism names, or ION - the database
behind Zoological Record. The names are those occuring in the digitised
volumes of Zoo. Record, i.e. from 1978 onwards. Thus, although many
older names are present, these often don't have original references
associated with them. The process of digitising Zoo. Record back to
volume one (1864) is almost complete, and so these names will also soon
be available via ZooBank. The other errors pointed out appear to be
mainly technical ones that we need to address asap. However, ZooBank's
eventual role is as a registry for new names, not just a database, and
we are currently developing the interface for submitting names, to be
available before the end of the year.
Using ION to "kick-start" ZooBank was always going to carry the risk of
criticism of some of the data quality, but positive criticism is exactly
what is required to eventually clean up the data, so it is to be
welcomed. However, rather than collate and correct individual mistakes
in a piecemeal way, we are developing a coordinated system by which
authoritative taxonomic databases can be compared with the data
presently in ZooBank. This will be done in collaboration with GBIF,
TDWG, uBIO, Thomson and other partners, and will eventually rely on
those taxonomists holding reliable data. Clearly, getting ZooBank to
evolve into what will become the authoritative list of all scientific
names of animals is a major task and is going to need new resources -
not just for ICZN but for those taxonomists involved in providing and
correcting the data. In order to obtain those resources, we are going to
need to demonstrate widespread support among zoologists and others for
the ZooBank concept.
Best wishes, Andrew.
Dr Andrew Polaszek
Executive Secretary,
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature Natural History
Museum, London SW7 5BD
+44 (0)207 942 5653
iczn-ap at nhm.ac.uk
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2006 10:44:35 -0400
From: Richard Jensen <rjensen at saintmarys.edu>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ]
To: Paul Kirk <p.kirk at cabi.org>
Cc: TAXACOM <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Message-ID: <45003053.8040507 at saintmarys.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=ISO-8859-1
Paul Kirk wrote:
> I'm not saying it's simple but there has to be some sort of 'evolution'.
>
> A few points:
>
> Why publish in journals which charge $2500?
>
I didn't say one should. Some journals may only charge $100. The point
is, not everyone can afford to pay such a fee.
> Where are the distribution cost when it's electronic and not thin sheets
> of wood - if the latter is required (for effective publication/being
> available) then local printing is the solution not centralized.
>
Well, somebody has to pay for a connection to the internet and IP support.
This is a problem that many societies face (I'm not talking about you or
me publishing our own work independently). Currently, the codes require
hardcopy publication, so what are the options?
> Load publication costs into grants - $2500 is insignificant compared to
> staff costs for a 3 year project.
>
I guess you live in the best of all possible worlds - everyone has grant
money to support their research. That's not the world most of us live in.
> Pdf's are a click away from a word processing document.
>
Of course it is - if we have access to the facilities to do that.
Again, you are assuming that everyone has access to the same facilities,
which is clearly not the case (see Rod's previous post - his institution
doesn't provide access to the journal in question). My institution has
a very restricted JSTOR subscription (no systematics journals included)
and does not subscribe to BioOne. I sometimes have to pay a fee if I
want to see something "right now".
> I have a server which cost about $500 that runs five web sites, all
> database driven (SQL Server) including the IF web site (million hits per
> month) and the British Fungi site with a 1.2 million record table. Is it
> slow ... No, do the CPU's sit around doing nothing 99.9999999% of the
> time (like modern servers) ... No, are the disks all but empty (like
> modern servers) ... No, but there is still enough space for everything
> (and expansion) in 40GB.
>
Who paid for the server and who pays fro replacement and updates? Not
everyone is savvy enough to run a personal server nor has access to
someone who will do it gratis.
> And JSTOR ... do they really think that there are people out there who
> would pay to see a page image of the 1898 volume of the Bryologist or
> volume 1 of the American Journal of Botany?
>
They do, and there are.
Cheers,
Dick
> Regards,
>
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Jensen
[<mailto:rjensen at saintmarys.edu>mailto:rjensen at saintmarys.edu]
> Sent: 07 September 2006 13:47
> To: Paul Kirk
> Cc: TAXACOM
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ]
>
> Paul Kirk wrote"
>
> "The primary systematic literature must be made available free to the
> end user."
>
> OK, then who pays for the costs of publication and distribuition? Who
> pays for the costs of creating web versions (pdf or html) and
> maintaining the servers? Most professional societies that publish
> journals cannot afford to make these publications "free to the end
> user." Perhaps Paul supports the proposed "open access" models in which
> the author pays fees ($2500 per article in one case) to cover these
> costs. If that's the model, I will have to stop publishing in referreed
> journals, as will most of us.
>
> I agree that we need easy access, and people who refuse to make their
> publications available in some easily transportable electronic format
> are obstructionists. But it's not as easy as simply declaring that this
> information should be free and that all should have open access.
>
> The models being used by many societies are to have "subscriber only"
> access for a given period of time after the publication of the journal
> issue. In some cases one year, in some cases longer. Then the
> publication can be viewed "free" through JSTOR or other sites - assuming
> you either have a personal subscription to JSTOR or access to a library
> that subscribes (there are those pesky costs again).
>
> Dick J
>
> Richard Jensen, Professor
> Department of Biology
> Saint Mary's College
> Notre Dame, IN 46556
> Tel: 574-284-4674
>
>
>
> Paul Kirk wrote:
>
>> Google is free to use ... and is highly valued by users; people in
>>
> ivory
>
>> towers will never understand what goes on outside those towers ... and
>> what of those who cannot subscribe due to economic reasons? I would
>> never publish anything in a journal with such a policy.
>>
>> I'm sure we are all aware of wealthy people who buy works of art and
>> keep them locked in bank vaults ... for what? The primary systematic
>> literature must be made available free to the end user.
>>
>> Not much experience of things in copyright (have focussed on
>> historically important works out of copyright) but a specialist
>>
> Society
>
>> with a journal can be approached with a request for permission to scan
>> up to, for example, the last 10 years. This should protect the income
>> stream which for many Societies is their life blood. To their credit,
>> the Mycological Society of America (as one of a growing number) has
>> agreed to this. Get a few on board and the rest will more than likely
>> follow suit for fear of the 'name and shame' list.
>>
>> Paul
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>>
[<mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu]
On Behalf Of Bob Mesibov
>> Sent: 07 September 2006 10:48
>> To: TAXACOM
>> Cc: Hallan, Joel (biocat)
>> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ]
>>
>> Re the fungi and ant scanning/distributing projects:
>>
>> A leading authority in my field, who edits a specialist journal, has
>> flatly
>> refused to allow the journal to be made available in PDF form. He
>>
> wrote:
>
>> "Not sympathetic with the idea of making the contents (text) available
>> free
>> to everybody in the world. Over the years I have paid for over half
>>
> the
>
>> printing and postal costs, and work on the principle that people do
>>
> not
>
>> value anything that is free. I think that users should shoulder some
>>
> of
>
>> the
>> cost of production, even if only a few actually ever buy parts or
>> subscribe
>> to the thing by volume."
>>
>> A second authority also refuses to let his published work be
>>
> digitised.
>
>> Further, after I had scanned a large number of his illustrations
>>
> (vital
>
>> in
>> this particular group's taxonomy) and formatted them for a taxonomic
>> website, I was told by the authority that he didn't want them to be
>>
> used
>
>> in
>> this way. He regards some uses of his work as outright plagiarism and
>> wants
>> taxonomists and others to go to his original publications.
>>
>> I'm wondering whether something similar has happened in the ant and
>> fungi
>> literature digitising, and if so, how these gaps in the digitised
>> literature
>> are handled by your bibliographic portals.
>> ---
>> Dr Robert Mesibov
>> Honorary Research Associate, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
>> and School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
>> Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
>> (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
>>
>> Tasmanian Multipedes
>>
<http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/zoology/multipedes/mulintro.html>http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/zoology/multipedes/mulintro.html
>> Spatial data basics for Tasmania
>>
<http://www.utas.edu.au/spatial/locations/index.html>http://www.utas.edu.au/spatial/locations/index.html
>> ---
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Taxacom mailing list
>> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>>
<http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom>http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Taxacom mailing list
>> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>>
<http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom>http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>>
>>
>
>
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 10:07:43 -0400
From: Peter Stevens <peter.stevens at mobot.org>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank - names in common use
To: <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Cc: doug.holland at mobot.org
Message-ID: <f04330102c125d575fcf3@[172.16.18.106]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
You are so right about the obscenity. Following up an earlier comment
in this thread, I wish we in botany had something like names in
common use (the earlier proposal failed because of politics), and
then we could get around the need to use all the literature that we
waste time checking just because we have to. We can still use the
older literature for what it has of value - sometimes very great
indeed - but it will not affect us nomenclaturally. We talk about
the taxonomic impediment, but of course some of the greatest
taxonomic impediments are those that we taxonomists erect ourselves.
We need a new business model, and I don't think it is web-enabled
business as usual..
P.
>Rod makes a good point. So, all these colleagues around the world do have
>access to the Internet
><http://clustrmaps.com/counter/maps.php?url=http://antbase.org>http://clustrmaps.com/counter/maps.php?url=http://antbase.org
>, we know now for sure, since they looked at antbase during the last 8 days.
>
>So, Rod makes the point, that he has a more restricted access to ZR than
>Frank. What about all those outside a Northern University System?
>
>It is almost obscene that we want to keep up the barriers to scientific
>information we finally can torn down. It is like building up a zoological
>garden with a glass wall, where the have-all watch the have-much-less.
>Google frees for us a tremendous amount of data - see especially google
>earth and google scholar. At the same time, the barrier to the access to our
>digital journals (we are aware because of free google scholar) is raising
>because subscription rates raise far above inflation rate, and thus more and
>more of us loose journals at their universities.
>
>And then there are all our colleagues in the developing world where most of
>us get (or got) their specimens, who are living at our merci to get those
>publications via email. Publications they will never be able to access
>otherwise.
>
>But Rod's point has also to do with scientific integrity. If I know, there
>is so much data out which need to go into my scientific analysis, but need
>to omit it, because I can not get access, then it is bad. And that is, what
>selective access to scientific information is.
>
>Donat
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Now, never one to let an ugly fact get in the way of a good story,
>observe how I turn this embarrassing cock up into yet another stick
>with which to beat the poor folks at ZooBank. So, my access to search
>results (never mind the actual literature) is limited by whatever
>subscription my institution has! Imagine if Google did this, so that
>results from a search while you are in a coffee shop are different from
>those you get at work, or at home. To me, the notion of search results
>varying based on subscription is a recipe for disaster.
>
>Regards
>
>Rod
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>----------------------------------------
>Professor Roderic D. M. Page
>Editor, Systematic Biology
>DEEB, IBLS
>Graham Kerr Building
>University of Glasgow
>Glasgow G12 8QP
>United Kingdom
>
>Phone: +44 141 330 4778
>Fax: +44 141 330 2792
>email: r.page at bio.gla.ac.uk
>web:
<http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html>http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html
>iChat: aim://rodpage1962
>reprints:
<http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/pubs.html>http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/pubs.html
>
>Subscribe to Systematic Biology through the Society of Systematic
>Biologists
Website: <http://systematicbiology.org>http://systematicbiology.org
>Search for taxon names:
<http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/portal/>http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/portal/
>Find out what we know about a species:
<http://ispecies.org>http://ispecies.org
>Rod's rants on phyloinformatics:
<http://iphylo.blogspot.com>http://iphylo.blogspot.com
>Rod's rants on ants: <http://semant.blogspot.com>http://semant.blogspot.com
>
>
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>
>
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