[Taxacom] People and databases

[Stephen Thorpe]

Some comments on Lorenz's post, which has much merit overall, but  
perhaps suffers slightly from the familiar problem of nobody being  
truly objective:

(1) [Lorenz] improved access to vital biodiversity knowledge is  
impossible without ZooBank
[reply] impossible without ZooBank???? A BIG claim, without any obvious basis!

(2) [Lorenz] Only taxon experts can provide reliable records
[reply] The context here makes this somewhat ambiguous. I see the  
process something along these lines:

step1: taxonomists (="taxon experts") create PTPs (=Primary Taxonomic  
Publications). Typically, both over time and simultaneously, these  
will be mutually inconsistent to more or less of an extent, and will  
carry the biases (and limitations) of the individual taxonomists.

step3 (yes, 3!): the information from all available PTPs are put  
together into a consistent "database" structure. The databases will be  
designed and built by IT people, hopefully in consultation with both  
taxonomists and end-users.

So, what is step 2, you may well ask? Well, it is the most difficult  
step! It involves coming up with a sensible strategy for exactly how  
the information from the PTPs should be put together. IT people will  
have little inkling of the issues here, and neither will end users,  
who might well know what questions they want to be able to answer, but  
not about how those questions can in fact be best answered from the  
huge set of mutually inconsistent PTPs! Taxonomists, on the other  
hand, will typically try to solve the mutual inconsistency problem by  
claiming that their own theory is the "correct one"! So, what do we  
do? The conventional answer is that we just push on and do our best,  
but the reality is that this just perpetuates the creation of more and  
more "databases", basically all giving different answers to the same  
questions!

Stephen




Quoting Bob Mesibov <mesibov at southcom.com.au>:

> 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
>
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