[Taxacom] Wikispecies is not a database

[Bob Mesibov]

Jim Croft wrote:

"A finely crafted narrative that only a human can interpret these days is squandered effort and basically an ego trip. Structured data with robust standards is a legacy that can
be repurposed in ways we have not even thought of yet. Start with the data, sort it out, and then make whatever stuff you want from it."

OMG. Talk about over-the-top exaggerations. I hope, Jim, you were only talking about classifications. If not, well, pass the word to the taxonomic publishers, the game is over. No more long-winded species descriptions, no more character matrices with short-hand character headings. If we're going to talk to the future, what we need is raw occurrence and structured character data in perpetually interpretable digital form. Structuring of character data too iffy because of interpretation errors or lack of awareness of as-yet-unknown characters or character nuances? Yeah, that's a problem with morphology. Better stick to the ultimately structured character data: DNA sequences. Illustrations can be converted to ASCII art or backed up with lithographs, i.e. the stones, not the prints.
-- 
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
Website: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html