All, I really like Bob's rewording of the definition, and suggest that we all refer to this. Steve At 12:38 PM 11/20/2005 -0500, Robert K. Peet wrote:
Hi Steve,
Try the folllowing revision, which is in part an exercise to see whether I understand your definition.
"An observation characterizes the occurrence of an organism or set of organisms through a data collection event using a defined protocol at a defined spatiotemporal location. Individual observations are not necessarily independent entities and potentially can be linked through common characteristics such as time, place, protocol, and individual organisms."
Bob
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 11:01:11 -0500 From: Steve Kelling <stk2@cornell.edu> ... I suggest that we go with the definition of an observation as:
An observation characterizes the occurrence of an organism (or a community of organisms) through a collection event using a defined protocol and spatiotemporal location. Individual observations are non-independent entities that can be linked to each other through their common characteristics.
====================================================================== Robert K. Peet, Professor & Chair Phone: 919-962-6942 Curriculum in Ecology, CB#3275 Fax: 919-962-6930 University of North Carolina Cell: 919-368-4971 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3275 USA Email: peet@unc.edu
http://www.unc.edu/depts/ecology/ http://www.bio.unc.edu/faculty/peet/ ======================================================================
_______________________________________________ Tdwg-obs mailing list Tdwg-obs@lists.tdwg.org http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/tdwg-obs_lists.tdwg.org
Steve Kelling Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2478 (work) 607-342-1029 (cell)