[Taxacom] progress on globalnames.org - BHL side response

Wed May 13 04:04:34 CDT 2009

There are (for me) two methods to determine priority for scanning -
nomenclaturally important works, and taxonomically important works.

The first, I think, is the prioritized list - derived by a 'select count
...' on the journal/book titles (and volumes/editions) cited in
nomenclators - Index Fungorum produces Mycotaxon (10009 names, done),
Mycologia (9634, almost done), Annales Mycologici (8752, started) ... I
think this is the one produced 5 years ago for plant name?.

The second is more difficult to quantify as it involves humans but one
no-brainer in mycology would be the Sylloge Fungorum (done, 7503 names
and rising, Latin (verbatim) original descriptions of 120k names, and a
few references of taxonomic importance) and Zahlbruckner (done, 2225
names and rising and gazillions of references ... a nice parsing job for
someone or something).

Paul

p.s. the done = CyberLiber

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Chris Freeland
Sent: 13 May 2009 09:50
To: Donat Agosti; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] progress on globalnames.org - BHL side response

Donat, all,

Just a point of clarification - BHL hasn't been randomly scanning
content, but rather working with partner libraries to identify
well-curated taxonomic subsets within our collections while also staying
in line with the broader goals and themes set by EOL. For instance, SI's
entomology collection is fully barcoded and bibliographically complete,
so they've focused their efforts there; Harvard MCZ has taken the same
approach with herpetology.  MBL responded to EOL's initial theme of
"marine life" (what *exactly* is that, taxonomically speaking?) and so
scanned large, broad ranges of their collection to try to cover that
wide theme.  MOBOT/NYBG/Harvard Botany have been working down a
prioritized list originally created 5 years ago (a half-decade; sorry,
Rod!) and revised here: http://bit.ly/15ECET, along with other botanical
journals and monographs.

That said, I am in complete and total agreement that we need a way to
make finer-grained decisions on what to send for scanning now that we're
past our proof of concept stage.  We have a functioning workflow for
digitization and an infrastructure for delivery.  How best to fill our
repository and with what is a subject of constant discussion within our
ranks.  

Our current line of thinking is to amass as many specialist
bibliographies as possible and aggregate citations by journal in order
to prioritize those journals for digitization.  We've been scrambling to
put a system in place to accommodate this, which we plan to demo and
discuss at eBiosphere and announce through this list & our blog.  If
others have thoughts on a process that allows us to get the right titles
into our scanning queue then let us know.  We're here to (scan &) serve,
not disappoint.

Chris
BHL, MOBOT

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu on behalf of Donat Agosti
Sent: Wed 5/13/2009 2:51 AM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] progress on globalnames.org

I agree with Rod, this can't be accepted to think in such long ranges.

I think, there ought be much more strategic thinking in this.  Eg the
Biodivlibrary should not randomly (from a taxonomic point of view) scan
in stuff, but target specific groups. Taxonomic experts should be able
to apply for slots that would cover all their literature. This does not
mean to scan one reprint after the other, but rather serials that
include the largest number of papers. The collaterals, others papers not
covering the target group, would still be an incentive for others to
comprehend, what a tremendous resource this is.

For me this sort of decadal or grand thinking seems to be completely off
or decoupled from a research strategy that asks questions and the finds
way to solve them, including the building up of the necessary IT
infrastructure and content.
It is rather infused by Google creating in our community and funding
agency the misunderstood desire to create the mother system of all the
biodiversity information.

It is similar to planning to fly to Mars, but without the billions of
dollars to spend.

So, what we need is strategic thinking coupled with tools that allow
editing and linking data in a very efficient way that will essentially
lead to data that can be used new insights and knowledge. Only this will
lead to a community that is willing to chip in their efforts and shorten
the time substantially.

Donat

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Roderic Page
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 11:34 AM
To: David Patterson
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] progress on globalnames.org

Am I the only horrified by this timescale?

On 12 May 2009, at 16:45, David Patterson wrote:

>
> Expectation management:  How long before this all operational? Best to

> think decadally.
>

Why can't we have this sooner? Like, *cough*, now? Is it crazy to
suggest that if all these names were dumped in a wiki, together with
annotations (e.g., links to literature), any our community set about
adding/annotating/cleaning, we could have this done rather sooner...?

Rod

---------------------------------------------------------
Roderic Page
Professor of Taxonomy
DEEB, FBLS
Graham Kerr Building
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK

Email: r.page at bio.gla.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 4778
Fax: +44 141 330 2792
AIM: rodpage1962 at aim.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1112517192
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rdmpage
Blog: http://iphylo.blogspot.com
Home page: http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html

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