[Taxacom] ICZN procedure question

[dipteryx at freeler.nl]

Van: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu namens Richard Pyle
Verzonden: vr 12-11-2010 9:27

> Jim,

> Forgive me for asking....but have you gone off the deep end?

***
Given that we have been flooded for decades with electronic
devices (each accompanied by grand marketing claims about
user-friendlines and universality) that in practice proved 
not to work as advertised, or only for a while (until bypassed 
by a next generation), and given an ever-proliferating number 
of 'universal' standards (each needing dedicated, and 
constantly to be updated, software) it looks to me that a 
degree of caution is not a sign of madness?

I do not know if electronic publishing of scientific names is 
going to happen (given that the Codes are retroactive, it is 
possible that it already exists, for example if a future change 
of the Codes determines that all electronic publishing from 
1 January 2000 onwards is accepted as effective/available. 
This is unlikely, but possible!), but the more discussions 
I see on the topic, the more I get the feeling that 
the immediate issue before us is formulating what exact 
conditions and requirements these Official Permanent Paper
Copies will have to meet.

For example, the
* * *

> That's why I advocated a handful of archival paper copies 
> of an electronic registry being generated around the world
> .... "just in case".

***
or
* * *

>> It is not in place yet, but I would be suggesting very 
>> strongly to maintainers of nomenclatural and taxonomic 
>> indices that when e-only publication arrives, they print 
>> out and archive copies of their reference material on 
>> archival paper and store it logically in a safe place. 

***
or
* * *

> We don't need to print the entire publications; 
> just the bits of relevance to nomenclature (i.e., 
> the registration entries).

***
are very untraditional: these are moving counter to the way 
the Codes now tend to organize things. A more traditional
approach would be to formulate requirements as to number of 
copies, where (and how) these are to be deposited, and who is 
entitled to make such printed copies.

Paul