[tdwg-content] [tdwg-tag] Inclusion of authorship in DwC scientificName: good or bad?

Steve Baskauf steve.baskauf at vanderbilt.edu
Fri Nov 19 17:56:48 CET 2010



Markus Döring (GBIF) wrote:
> What Darwin Core offers right now are 2 ways of expressing the name:
>
> A) the complete string as dwc:scientificName
> B) the atomised parts:
>     genus, subgenus, specificEpithet, infraspecificEpithet, verbatimTaxonRank (+taxonRank), scientificNameAuthorship
>
> Those 2 options are there to satisfy the different needs we have seen in this thread - the consumers call for a simple input and the need to express complex names in their verbatim form.
> Is there really anything we are missing? 
>   
Yes!  A consensus on dwc:taxonRank as to whether Latin or English should 
be used (see http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Taxon#taxonRank).  
I think it is bad to have a controlled vocabulary with two options for 
every possible value.  Why make all software check for two alternatives 
when a consensus would fix the problem?  (Consensus... did I say that 
word in a tdwg-content email????)

Steve

-- 
Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences

postal mail address:
VU Station B 351634
Nashville, TN  37235-1634,  U.S.A.

delivery address:
2125 Stevenson Center
1161 21st Ave., S.
Nashville, TN 37235

office: 2128 Stevenson Center
phone: (615) 343-4582,  fax: (615) 343-6707
http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu



More information about the tdwg-content mailing list