[Taxacom] progress on globalnames.org

[Jim Croft]

On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 1:45 AM, David Patterson <dpatterson at eol.org> wrote:
> ... Recollect the
> environment is not intended for humans to peruse, but rather to link
> together information available at different places.   So, one might imagine
> a query might be:
>
> I have encountered this name
> What are the available names for this taxon
> What is deemed to be the correct name
> What is the basionym

To be meaningful or at least unambiguous in a biological sense, the
query probably needs to be a bit more complex.

I have encountered this name
Where does this name occur in nomenclators
What is the basionym
What are the synonyms (nomenclatural, taxonomic)
To what taxa might this name apply
What are the available names for these taxa
Which one(s) are you interested in (<== insert human decision here)
What is deemed to be the correct name
    What is the basionym
    What are the synonyms

It is easy to see how the nomenclatural side of this might be able to
be handled computer to computer, but it is difficult to see how a
computer can resolve the many to many relationship between names and
taxa (concepts) and anticipate the concept that may be in play at a
particular moment based on its name.

We could of course preload the concepts with contemporary defaults but
in some (many? most?) cases a human might need to assess and maybe
change the default.

But I guess building the dynamic politely agree fiction that we can
all use is what taxonomy is all about...

jim

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