[Taxacom] article on taxonomy

[Stephen Thorpe]

Since these were my two sentences (and two cents!), I will elaborate a little:

I am 100% in favour of an integrated source of taxonomic information, and not just so managers/politicians can make "triage" decisions, and not just so taxonomists can spend more time out and about in the field, but because it will be useful to a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons (education being another example - students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) would benefit from greater access to such information).

I am 100% against the existence of numerous expensive initiatives creating a seemingly "booming" data integration industry, when the very primary taxonomy upon which the integrators integrate is finding it harder and harder to compete. Once an industry like this starts, it becomes a snow ball rolling down hill ...

For these reasons, I support Wikispecies as an inexpensive and practical solution, which should be used more...

Stephen




________________________________
From: Richard Pyle <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org>
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Sent: Sun, 28 February, 2010 11:04:20 AM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] article on taxonomy

> Every specialist 
> taxonomist keeps track of information relevant to their 
> group. They don't need a dozen acronyms to come along and 
> "integrate" it with everybody else's information ...

These two sentences, I think, perfectly capture both sides of the debate
equally well; just different emphases on different parts.

Aloha,
Rich