[Taxacom] Occurrence data...

[Stephen Thorpe]

>I have never had a problem with presenting a warts and all dataset and living 
>with it's mistakes. Others will find them and help me to improve the dataset

but if only, say, 20% of groups are revised, that means 80% of the dataset is 
unreliable pending taxonomic revision sometime in the future... that's not 
"warts and all", but one almighty wart and no person! On the other hand, an 80% 
reliable dataset may be worth doing and improving as you describe ... but that 
is not the reality in my experience. 


If I was presented with a GBIF style distribution map (with actual data on it) 
with a disclaimer saying "this data is of unknown reliability at present, but we 
hope to improve it sometime in the future", my reaction would be "what the f%$# 
am I supposed to do with this???" ...

Stephen




________________________________
From: "Walker, Ken" <kwalker at museum.vic.gov.au>
To: Stephen Thorpe <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>
Cc: Bob Mesibov <mesibov at southcom.com.au>; TAXACOM <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Sat, 19 February, 2011 4:01:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Occurrence data...



compare with occurrence data: we database the contents of your museum's 
collection, but much of it will be pre-revision misidentifications plus some 
mislabellings, plus some interpretation and data entry errors, ...


I have never had a problem with presenting a warts and all dataset and living 
with it's mistakes. Others will find them and help me to improve the dataset.

The important point is to update and improve the dataset continually.

Ken

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