[Taxacom] How many 'cybertaxonomists' will there be?

[Bob Mesibov]

Most of the posts in the current thread seem to be dealing with this
general question:

How can taxonomists use new digital tools and Web communication to make
their work easier to do, easier to keep track of and more widely
accessible?

My meta-question is:

Will 'cybertaxonomy' halt and reverse the decline in the number of
taxonomists?

I doubt that anyone on this list sees 'cybertaxonomy' as simply a way to
keep productivity up as the taxonomic workforce dwindles. We're *not*
discussing work-arounds to enable specialist A to do twice as much work
after specialist B, the only other taxonomist in that particular field,
drops dead.

Is the feeling among TAXACOMers that the shrinkage in the taxonomic
workforce is an entirely separate issue? Or is there a linkage of this
kind:

Taxonomic practice is difficult and often isolating. If we make taxonomy
easier and more collaborative, then more people will be interested in
doing it.

I think I need convincing about that. Any real-world examples from
outside taxonomy?
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
and School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
(03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html
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