[Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN

[mivie at montana.edu]

The really frustrating thing is that doing it right the first time is
actually pretty easy, it is cleaning up afterward that is so much work.

As for Bob's comment, the answer is always education.  I require that each
thesis project in systematics include a thorny nomenclatural issue.  By
the time the student is finished, they are adamant about following the
code because they have been the victim of those who did not.

Do most of you (in the Professorate) include a section on using
nomenclature and the code in identification courses?  Perhaps a series of
pre-prepared exercises with example literature and questions, referenced
to the Codes, could be used for student papers. Then an example paper
solving the problem could be provided as a follow-up.  If a small set of
these was made available to teaching faculty, maybe we could  have an
impact on education regarding the importance of the issue.  I really think
that almost everyone wants to do it correctly, usually they just don't
know how and don't take the time to learn. OK, some are just perpetual
screwups who don't care, but those are never going to be fixed.


Mike Ivie

I do this in Biosystematics, but not in insect id.
> Clearly, the Code is there for a purpose - to make sure that communication
> about taxa is clear and unambiguous. Equally clearly, this cannot be done
> without fairly high levels of "legalism" (="pedantry"), just as you can't
> do bioinformatics without paying attention to "minutiae". Unfortunately,
> some taxonomists have an inflated opinion of the "science" of what they
> are doing, and too little regard for the effective communication of that
> science to a broad range of people...
>
> ________________________________________
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Pyle
> [deepreef at bishopmuseum.org]
> Sent: Thursday, 26 November 2009 8:11 a.m.
> To: 'TAXACOM'
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN
>
>> The commissioners need to keep this in
>> mind when they have the urge to increase legalism.
>
> To my knowledge (I cannot say for certain), it is the desire of every
> Commissioner to *reduce* leaglism in the future version of the Code.
>
> Aloha,
> Rich
>
>
>
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