[Taxacom] EOL announces call for 'research wishes'

[Karen Cranston]

Not to mention the many taxonomy meetings funded by EOL's Biodiversity
Synthesis Center:

http://synthesis.eol.org/synthesismeetings/past

On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 7:55 AM, Nadia Talent <nadia.talent at utoronto.ca> wrote:
> Bob,
>
> to be fair to EOL, those trinkets are not the only things they have offered to the taxonomic community, or to peripheral elements of that community. They have run various competitions with prizes, such as the Education Innovation Challenge with a prize to be divided among one or more contestants totalling US$50,000
> http://eol.org/info/290#Prize
> and the Phylogenetic Tree Challenge with the prize an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference
> http://eol.org/info/287#Prizes
>
> Whether that is the best way to fund the enterprise is surely a separate question, one equally applicable to government funding agencies.
>
> Nadia
>
> On 2012-08-22, at 2:15 , Robert Mesibov wrote:
>
>> Ken Walker wrote:
>>
>> "Why is it that when someone tries to do some good for the community, people throw stones at them?"
>>
>> Not sure what you're referring to here, but my own post was a comment on Peter Rauch's. He pictured a dying world, for which EOL care is appropriate and punning.
>>
>> Also not sure what you're referring to with 'when someone tries to do some good for the community'. What community was Cyn Parr addressing? And 'someone' is a rather disingenuous, gentle way of describing a massive organisation kick-started in 2007 with US$50 million.
>>
>> Its current mission is 'To increase awareness and understanding of living nature through an Encyclopedia of Life that gathers, generates, and shares knowledge in an open, freely accessible and trusted digital resource' (http://eol.org/about), but EOL publicity continues to promote a different goal, 'documenting every living plant and animal species on the globe' (http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/07/one-million-species-and-counting/), as though EOL staff hired or funded taxonomic work or was an important part of the worldwide taxonomic effort.
>>
>> Not so. Getting back to 'the community', the 'wishes' program invites 'Anyone with a strong interest in science' (http://eol.org/info/aug_16_2012) to ask for EOL's help.
>>
>> That's help, not money. As explained on EOL's 'wishes' page:
>>
>> 'EOL will thank winners for their leadership and inspiration with their choice of the following limited edition, personalized EOL-themed gifts, emblazoned with the EOL logo and your choice of images from our collection:
>> ·         Caffeinated EOL: a set of six 15oz mugs
>> ·         EOL Tech: a mousepad, a smartphone case and a portable USB power supply
>> ·         EOL outdoors: a hooded sweatshirt, a field bag and a stainless steel water bottle or Thermos
>> ·         EOL@ home: a shower curtain and a 50”x60” fleece throw blanket
>>
>> ---
>> Dr Robert Mesibov
>> Honorary Research Associate
>> Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
>> School of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania
>> Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
>> Ph: (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
>>
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>
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>
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karen.cranston at gmail.com
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