[Taxacom] Occurrence data...

[Bob Mesibov]

Ken, we are talking/posting at cross-purposes. Your butterfly data site is *exactly* what I meant when I referred to voluntary, bottom-up efforts. And just as your site was useful in ways you couldn't foresee, so are all the other bottom-up sites.

The 'millions of dollars' comment referred to the biodiversity data aggregation projects. They do *not* generate primary data, the way taxonomy does, so it is *not* reasonable to say 'That's the basis of taxonomy and a range of other sciences that create primary data.'

Again: the bottom-up sites are higher quality than the aggregations and just as easy to find on the Web with any search engine. Type 'hymenoptera data' into Google and the first hit is the Hymenoptera Online Database. Type 'hymenoptera' and the first hit is Wikipedia, and just look at the fantastic list of external links on that page. Isn't that 'exposed' enough for you?
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Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
Ph: (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Webpage: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/?articleID=570