[Taxacom] globalnames?

[Stephen Thorpe]

In order to make taxonomic names meaningful, they need to be linked to the relevant literature. Literature is a commodity that I understand, but "taxon concepts" just seem hopelessly wishy-washy to me. More effort (and funding) should perhaps go to making more of the literature freely available online, linked to taxon names in basically the same way that I do it on Wikispecies. If you want to know what so-and-so meant by Xus yus, read his paper...!

Stephen

________________________________________
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of David Remsen (GBIF) [dremsen at gbif.org]
Sent: Monday, 28 September 2009 8:29 p.m.
To: Peter DeVries
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] globalnames?

Peter,

It is exactly the scope and intention of what we are working on at GBIF.

David






On Sep 27, 2009, at 10:43 AM, Peter DeVries wrote:

>> As far as I can tell (?) no such resource exists
> (the 'database mentality' not lending itself to that approach?).
> It is in development, probably as part of globalnames.
>
> See
>
> http://lod.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.xhtml
>
>
> and
>
> http://lod.taxonconcept.org/ses/iuCXz.xhtml
>
> <http://lod.taxonconcept.org/ses/iuCXz.xhtml>- Pete
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 1:37 AM, Paul van Rijckevorsel
> <dipteryx at freeler.nl>wrote:
>
>> From: "Jim Croft" <jim.croft at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 9:10 PM
>>> These lists are probably the sorts of taxonomic products that
>>> unsettle
>>> me the most.  They are lists of names purporting to be lists of
>>> unambiguous and inviolate species entities/concepts but in most
>>> cases there is no way to connect one with the other, other than to
>>> assume they are following the prevailing taxonomic wisdom. Which
>>> of course might change next week.
>>>
>>> In our case these lists are part of legislation and thus inherit
>>> power
>>> far greater than the science and semantics behind them.
>>>
>>> It is all a bit of a worry...
>>>
>>> On the other hand, if the names in question were linked online to a
>>> documented taxonomy circumscribing the intended concept/entity,
>>> which was in turn connected to a populated disambiguator, all
>>> would be sweet and peace and harmony would rule the earth.  :)
>>
>> ***
>> I will refer to what I wrote on 22 September:
>>
>> " What the non-taxonomist will need (even if he does not realize it)
>>  is the taxonomic information indicated by the name (as used in that
>>  particular case). In what sense is the name used: how is the taxon
>>  circumscribed? That is the information that routinely should be
>>  included. In the case of a name with a lively history this is likely
>>  to be vital (possibly literally), and its absence may be truly
>>  disastrous.
>>
>>  There is a lot of education to be done in this respect. The
>>  non-taxonomist is very unlikely to realize that four 'text strings',
>>  each with the same botanical name but including a different
>>  (lengthy) author citation are one-and-the-same-thing, while the
>>  same botanical name "in the sense of the FNA" and "in the sense
>>  of the Flora Europaea" may be vitally different. "
>>
>> As to the "linked online to a documented taxonomy circumscribing
>> the intended concept/entity, which was in turn connected to a
>> populated disambiguator", if this means an online resource which
>> disambiguates names by circumscription, then that would be
>> a good idea. As far as I can tell (?) no such resource exists
>> (the 'database mentality' not lending itself to that approach?).
>>
>> Paul
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> Pete DeVries
> Department of Entomology
> University of Wisconsin - Madison
> 445 Russell Laboratories
> 1630 Linden Drive
> Madison, WI 53706
> GeoSpecies Knowledge Base
> About the GeoSpecies Knowledge Base
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