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<p class=MsoNormal>Now that GBIF is releasing lots of cool web services (thanks
to Dave Martin, Tim Robertson, and others) and similar web services can be
found in other organizations, ought we consider a <a
href="http://www.programmableweb.com">www.programmableweb.com</a> knock-off
called something like <a href="http://www.programmablebiodiversity.org">www.programmablebiodiversity.org</a>?
This way, we can have a user-driven repository / show-and-tell for useful
applications that can be built for the wider biodiversity informatics community.
At the very least, this will provide some positive feedback for providers who
can then point to examples of how the data can be used, mashed-up, or otherwise
repurposed in imaginative ways. Plus, this could be like a communal grab-bag of
tricks for organizations like EOL. If anyone wants to take the initiative on
this, I’ll most certainly contribute.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The kinds of things I am thinking of are Rod Page’s
iSpecies (<a href="http://ispecies.org">http://ispecies.org</a>) or my temporary,
development knock-off using nothing but JSON (<a
href="http://ispiders.blogspot.com/2007/09/ispecies-clone.html">http://ispiders.blogspot.com/2007/09/ispecies-clone.html</a>),
or Rod’s bioGUID reference parser and my simple way to tap into this in
real-time (<a href="http://tinyurl.com/ytqxo6">http://tinyurl.com/ytqxo6</a>), PygmyBrowse
(<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1125451.1125562">http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1125451.1125562</a>),
etc.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Along the same sort of lines, the TDWG link to its “Biodiversity
Projects of the World” is buried under “Activities”. Shouldn’t
this be front and center on the TDWG homepage?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Cheers,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>David P. Shorthouse<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Department of Biological
Sciences<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>CW-403, Biological Sciences
Centre<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>University of Alberta<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Edmonton, AB T6G
2E9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>mailto:dps1@ualberta.ca<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>http://canadianarachnology.dyndns.org<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>http://www.spiderwebwatch.org<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>http://ispiders.blogspot.com<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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