[Taxacom] Twitter Fwd: Nature needs names: 60 new dragonflies from Africa

Richard Pyle deepreef at bishopmuseum.org
Sun Dec 13 14:41:00 CST 2015


Hi Stephen,

<waxPhilosophical>
Here is the way I look at it.  You're probably right -- the publicity/advertising, in all likelihood, has a near-zero chance of having any real meaningful impact.  But consider this:  by NOT advertising/publicizing, we GUARANTEE a zero chance of having any real meaningful impact.  And, as it turns out, "near-zero" is (literally) infinitely larger than "zero".

It's the same attitude I have when deciding to apply for a grant proposal, or doing something that is highly unconventional and/or where conventional wisdom strongly suggests that I'm wasting my time.  But here's the thing: some of the greatest advancements in human history came about because someone was too stupid to know that what s/he was doing was impossible, or extremely likely to fail.  It's popularized through expressions such as "nothing ventured, nothing gained".  And sure, there are risks (there are always risks).  But if I only did stuff because it followed conventional wisdom, I would have had a much less interesting and productive life.
</waxPhilosophical>

Aloha,
Rich

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Thorpe [mailto:stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz]
> Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2015 10:04 AM
> To: 'Daniel Mietchen'; deepreef at bishopmuseum.org
> Cc: 'taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu'; gread at actrix.gen.nz
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Twitter Fwd: Nature needs names: 60 new dragonflies
> from Africa
> 
> I still don't see any real point in any of this*. Potentially, the number and
> frequency of auto-generated tweets from ZooBank could become vast. It is far
> more sensible for a person just to search ZooBank for what they are interested
> in. Or perhaps some people want to spend all day every day trawling through
> tweets! Maybe a weekly or monthly tweet with summary statistics would work,
> but does anyone really want that? If so, can't they get it directly from ZooBank
> anyway?
> 
> Stephen
> 
> *Having said that, I have never in my life seen any point of advertising of any
> kind!
> 
> --------------------------------------------
> On Mon, 14/12/15, Richard Pyle <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org> wrote:
> 
>  Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Twitter Fwd: Nature needs names: 60 new dragonflies
> 	from Africa
>  To: "'Daniel Mietchen'" <daniel.mietchen at googlemail.com>
>  Cc: "'taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu'" <Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>,
> gread at actrix.gen.nz
>  Received: Monday, 14 December, 2015, 1:39 AM
> 
>  Thanks, Daniel!  This
>  week is crazy, but when the dust settles, I will likely take  you up on your offer
> to help!
> 
>  MANY thanks!
> 
>  Rich
> 
>  > -----Original
>  Message-----
>  > From: Daniel Mietchen
>  [mailto:daniel.mietchen at googlemail.com]
>  > Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2015 2:21 AM  > To: Richard Pyle  > Cc:
>  Scott Thomson; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu;  gread at actrix.gen.nz  >
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Twitter Fwd: Nature  needs names: 60 new dragonflies  >
> from  Africa  >  > The length  of a URL does not matter on Twitter any more -
> they shorten  all of  > them anyway, taking up 23  characters. With a space or
> newline, this leaves 116  > for content (including hashtags).
>  >
>  > I am running an IFTT
>  bot with similar scope ( https://twitter.com/wikiredlist )  > and would be happy
> to help set up a  pipeline for ZooBank et al.
>  >
>  > Daniel
>  >
>  > On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 1:14 PM, Richard  Pyle  >
> <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org>
>  wrote:
>  > > Hi Scott,
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Yes, I
>  understood exactly what your point was on the Family thing,  and I FULLY  >
> agree with it.  My point  was that ZooBank lacks the ability to link a species to a
> > family, because ZooBank is  nomenclatural.  The underlying database (GNUB)
> > certainly does have that ability, but it  would need a robust meta-authority
> (like  > CoL) to provide a family (or any higher
>  classification) in association with any new  > name registered in ZooBank.
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Aloha,
>  > >
>  > > Rich
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > From: Scott
>  Thomson [mailto:scott.thomson321 at gmail.com]
>  > > Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2015 2:01  AM  > > To: Richard Pyle  > > Cc:
> Stephen Thorpe; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu;  gread at actrix.gen.nz  > >
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Twitter Fwd:
>  Nature needs names: 60 new
>  > >
>  dragonflies from Africa
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Hi Richard,
>  >
>  >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > yes anything that can be turned into  a url will work, it is just so it clicks
> through  > to the desired record. My point on the  family group name was not  >
> nomenclatural, nor for nomenclatural reasons. It was so that  people could read
> > the tweet and  identify what taxonomic group was being discussed, then
> either  > ignore it or click it depending  on their interests. Species, or genus
> works also.
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Ok
>  Facebook..... both a nemesis and a useful thing. It requires  maintenance  > and
> this would be the  biggest downside. Anyone can post to it unless you exact  >
> strong control over this, which you can do  so you would have to carefully set it
> >  up. On the upside, they can, used well, be good advertising  for Zoobank and
> the  > ICZN, will get  those names out there far better than a website will these
> days. It  > puts the ICZN and Zoobank in  the face of the people. Which I believe
> could be  > good for the ICZN. I just saw your message  below to Rod while
> typing this, yes  >  twitter is not as popular as it used to be. The text  restriction
> being a big issue,  > and this  is one of the reasons Facebook has become so
> popular.
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > On Google +
>  very specific version of Facebook, some think more  professional,  > sorry but
> its same old  same old, just not done as well with a lack of cross  > browser
> support. However still worth  doing. For my blog whenever I add new  >  articles
> it automatically sends messages to twitter,  facebook, google + I get more  > hits
> from  Facebook than anywhere else. I get 2500 unique visitors a  year, over  >
> half from Facebook.
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Cheers,
>  Scott
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > On Sun, Dec
>  13, 2015 at 9:38 AM, Richard Pyle
>  >
>  <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org>
>  wrote:
>  > >
>  > >
>  OK, thanks for the elaboration.  The LSIDs are long and  cumbersome; I prefer  >
> the 36-character  UUIDs; especially when formulating an HTTP URL.  It would  be
> > redundant to have both the link and  the LSID/UUID; so we could include the
> >  taxon name and/or citation of the reference and/or author  name (depending
> on  > what the  registration is).
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Unfortunately, a family can only be  included for family-group names.  The
> link  > between a genus- or species-group name and  a family is a matter of
> taxonomy,  > not  nomenclature; and ZooBank is (sort of) limited to
> nomenclature.  However,  > this could be  a perfect collaboration with Catalog
> of Life, where ZooBank  pipes  > new names to COL as they come in,  and
> likewise can perform a service to link  > genus/species names to a higher
> classification (including family).
>  >
>  >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Maybe there should also be a ZooBank  Facebook page? What other social
> > >  media pipelines would be appropriate (does anyone actually  use Google+  >
> > ?)  > >  > >  > >  > > Someday….
>  If only there were unlimited funding and unlimited hours  in  > > the day…  >  >
> > >  > >  > > Aloha,  > >  > > Rich  > >  > >  > >  > > From: Scott Thomson
> [mailto:scott.thomson321 at gmail.com]
>  > > Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2015 1:32  AM  > > To: Richard Pyle  > > Cc:
> Stephen Thorpe; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu;  gread at actrix.gen.nz  > >
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Twitter Fwd:
>  Nature needs names: 60 new
>  > >
>  dragonflies from Africa
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > To keep it non political, and simple,  tweet the LSID's as a daily new papers.
>  > along with the Family name to make it  obvious what group is discussed.
> People  >  can click the link for details. No need to use all the  characters, just
> keep it simple.
>  >
>  >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Was not saying this should be done by  the way, just an option based on
> what  >  Doug was saying. Not everyone uses RSS, likewise not  everyone uses
> Twitter.
>  > However tweeting
>  the LSID's may encourage journals to register with  Zoobank  > better as it will
> be effective  advertising for them.
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Cheers, Scott
>  >
>  >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 9:24 AM,
>  Richard Pyle
>  > <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org>
>  wrote:
>  > >
>  >
>  >> On Doug's other point of some twitter feed or  something listing  > >>
> papers,  effectively, could not Zoobank effectively do that under  a  > >> twitter
> account #Zoobank  that does a daily "whats new":
>  > >
>  > > ZooBank
>  already has an RSS feed; would a separate Twitter feed be  useful?
>  > How best to use the 140
>  characters?  A core ZooBank URL is minimally 55  > characters
> ("http://zoobank.org/" + 36  characters for the UUID -- though we  >  could strip
> the dashes and make it 51 characters total).  How best to use the  > remaining
> characters?
>  > >
>  >
>  > Please bear in mind that I only vaguely understand what  Twitter is.... (I  >
> develop sophisticated  databases, and cutting-edge diving technology; but I'm  a
> > total luddite when it comes to social  media).
>  > >
>  > >
>  Aloha,
>  > > Rich
>  >
>  >
>  > > Richard L. Pyle, PhD
>  > > Database Coordinator for Natural
>  Sciences | Associate Zoologist in
>  > >
>  Ichthyology | Dive Safety Officer Department of Natural  Sciences,  > > Bishop
> Museum, 1525  Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817  > >
>  Ph: (808)848-4115 <tel:%28808%29848-4115> , Fax:
>  (808)847-8252
>  > >
>  <tel:%28808%29847-8252>  email: deepreef at bishopmuseum.org  > >
> http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/staff/pylerichard.html
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > --
>  > >
>  > > Scott Thomson
>  >
>  >
>  > > Museu de Zoologia da
>  Universidade de São Paulo
>  > >
>  > > Divisão de Vertebrados
>  (Herpetologia)
>  > >
>  > > Avenida Nazaré, 481, Ipiranga
>  > >
>  > > 04263-000,
>  São Paulo, SP, Brasil
>  > >
>  > > http://www.carettochelys.com
>  > >
>  > > ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1279-2722
>  > >
>  > > Lattes:
>  > >
>  >
> <https://wwws.cnpq.br/cvlattesweb/PKG_MENU.menu?f_cod=1E409F4BF37B
>  > FC4A
>  > >
>  D13FD58CDB7AA5FD> http://lattes.cnpq.br/0323517916624728
>  > >
>  > > Skype:
>  Faendalimas
>  > >
>  >
>  > Mobile Phone: +55 11 974 74 9095
>  >
>  >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > --
>  > >
>  > > Scott Thomson
>  >
>  >
>  > > Museu de Zoologia da
>  Universidade de São Paulo
>  > >
>  > > Divisão de Vertebrados
>  (Herpetologia)
>  > >
>  > > Avenida Nazaré, 481, Ipiranga
>  > >
>  > > 04263-000,
>  São Paulo, SP, Brasil
>  > >
>  > > http://www.carettochelys.com
>  > >
>  > > ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1279-2722
>  > >
>  > > Lattes:
>  > >
>  >
> <https://wwws.cnpq.br/cvlattesweb/PKG_MENU.menu?f_cod=1E409F4BF37B
>  > FC4A
>  > >
>  D13FD58CDB7AA5FD> http://lattes.cnpq.br/0323517916624728
>  > >
>  > > Skype:
>  Faendalimas
>  > >
>  >
>  > Mobile Phone: +55 11 974 74 9095
>  >
>  >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  _______________________________________________
>  > > Taxacom Mailing List
>  > > Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>  > > http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>  > > The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may  be searched at:
>  > > http://taxacom.markmail.org
>  > >
>  > > Celebrating
>  28 years of Taxacom in 2015.
> 
>  _______________________________________________
>  Taxacom Mailing List
>  Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>  http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>  The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be  searched at:
> http://taxacom.markmail.org
> 
>  Celebrating 28 years of
>  Taxacom in 2015.




More information about the Taxacom mailing list