[Taxacom] the hurdle for all biodiv informatics initiatives

[Stephen Thorpe]

well CoL, for one, is certainly in the "patchy" category, with only about 60% taxonomic coverage, not to mention some very odd classification "choices", like Dynastidae!

________________________________________
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Kirk [p.kirk at cabi.org]
Sent: Sunday, 21 February 2010 12:46 a.m.
To: dipteryx at freeler.nl; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] the hurdle for all biodiv informatics initiatives

do not confuse databases of biodiversity information (e.g. IPNI, IF, CoL, which are mostly full) with (some) biodiversity information aggregator portals which may be patchy and sometimes "mostly empty"

Paul

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From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu on behalf of dipteryx at freeler.nl
Sent: Sat 20/02/2010 10:12
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] the hurdle for all biodiv informatics initiatives



Van: Stephen Thorpe [mailto:s.thorpe at auckland.ac.nz]
Verzonden: za 20-2-2010 0:14

Hi Paul,
A frequent complaint you seem to voice about all biodiversity databases, including Wikispecies, is that they don't, by your estimation, contain much in the way of "useful" information. To my mind, however, they function to organise vast numbers references (preferably with links of some kind to those references) in a taxonomic way. The "useful information" is contained in the references, and not in the database per se. This is certainly how I view Wikispecies - a vast taxonomically organised library/bibliography, supplemented where possible with images...
Cheers,
Stephen

***
Yes, among the concerns I have voiced (consistently, I hope, rather
than "frequently") is that the biodiversity databases appear to be
mostly empty infrastructure, waiting for content to (magically?)
manifest itself. (The only aspect where content is 'magically'
manifesting itself is in the form of pictures: a surprising amount
of pictures is available on the web, in great part from books
that by their age have entered the public domain, but also from
enthusiastic photographers)

In how far references can yield this "useful information" is an open
question. For some species the original description or the most recent
monograph will yield state-of-the-art information. However, this will
not universally, or even generally, be the case: often a lot more
information will exist. In extreme cases so much information exists for
a single species that even a mere bibliography can be daunting.

But certainly it is very desirable for Wikispecies (or any biodiversity
initiative) to list (taxon by taxon) what taxonomic treatment is being
followed (backed up by a reference where necessary). Most parts of
Wikispecies that I have seen fall short of this standard.

Paul


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