[Taxacom] People and databases

[Bob Mesibov]

Wolfgang Lorenz has just posted to the ZooBank list a view on several of the issues discussed recently on Taxacom. I copy it here. A key implication of what Lorenz is suggesting is that behind each piece of taxonomic data is a person, and that the best tool for evaluating taxonomic data is human expertise. See my next post for an example.

Dear all,
taxonomic names are the fundamental keys all across biodiversity informatics, but improved access to vital biodiversity knowledge is impossible without ZooBank. 

PURE and APPLIED nomenclature: PURE names are unambiguously fixed to type material, whereas APPLIED names are applied to taxonomic concepts/ opinions that can be ambiguous. Pure names are like perfectly fixed tags, but applied names need to be interpreted: An important difference.
Like the Code, ZooBank must take care of the basic PURE nomenclature, primarily. However, ZooBank cannot do that without massive support from authoritative databases keeping track on APPLIED nomenclature. Who can provide that? By now, we should have learnt that it does not come automatically by scanning etc Only taxon experts can provide reliable records, - machines need expert stewards that take a look at what they are producing. Let us stop that nonsense production by industrialized automatic "name object" harvesting & interpreting tools!
Remember what Bill Eschmeyer wrote: >We need a "Database" central -- an electronic "meeting place" for people making taxonomic databases< 
That's it! 
The central role of ZooBank and the roles of all those taxonomic databases out there would become clearer & more productive if we had that meeting place!
Why not start it now, together with ZooBank. Why not send invitations to those people who are making or planning to make taxonomic databases? I guess there are many who do not even know about the ZooBank list. 

Best wishes,
Wolfgang Lorenz, Tutzing, Germany
faunaplan at aol.com
-- 
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