[Taxacom] i4Life and the acronym industry

[Robert Mesibov]

Stephen,

To understand what i4Life is trying to do, please see http://www.i4life.eu/

When you've done that, download and browse the description of work at http://www.i4life.eu/pilots.php This is a very well organised report and sets out in simple figures how i4Life hopes to function. You can do the math yourself, but you'll find that only a small part of the total effort (and the funding) involves checking names. The rest is IT and project management.

The acronym industry (of which i4Life is a part) involves many dedicated people and many years of hard work. What it mainly does is process and repackage the two most generally useful bits of taxonomy, namely existing names and distribution records. The acronym industry would be happy if new names and records magically appeared, but it is almost entirely unable to fund that new work. Its money comes from IT and conservation management pots.

Obviously I sympathise with Chris Thompson, because like him I'm a taxonomist and an unpaid database compiler. But railing against acronyms for ignoring the sources of their raw materials will get us nowhere. That would be like complaining that the managers of iTunes are ignoring musicians.

Actually, that's a poor simile. At least some of the money made by iTunes and other music distributors finds its way into the pockets of the people who actually made the music, so that those people can make more music. The acronym industry doesn't think that way, because it's built on data already in the public domain, with no data creator's rights. In recent years it's been expanding its intake to include distribution records provided free by citizen scientists.

Several years ago, former EOL head James Edwards was quoted as saying: ' "We have not given enough thought to the people who provide the information on which the Encyclopedia of Life is built." Dr. Edwards acknowledged. "We are looking into ways to keep that community going." ' (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/science/26ency.html?_r=3)

I suppose you could see the i4Life call as one of those ways. Help the acronym industry, and you can earn something with which you can fund your otherwise unfunded taxonomy. Work for iTunes, so you can afford to buy that musical instrument you want and a decent recording setup.

Cheers,
Bob
-- 
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