I've been quietly following this discussion, and have a general question to ask. In the note below and in previous notes, there seems to be an emphasis on SDD in the contect of "taxonomy"; but wouldn't it be more appropriate to place the emphasis more in the context of biological objects (e.g., specimens), rather than abstract concepts (taxa)? Even though the descriptive data may be applied directly to taxon concepts without an explicit reference to specific specimens/objects, ultimately the characters themselves that are being described are attached to a physical organism -- whether or not the specific physical organism is explicitly identified, or merely implied.
Thus, when searching for another moniker to reference what we now refer to as "SDD", I suggest that options along the lines of "Bio..." are preferable to those along the lines of "Taxo...".
Ultimately, this is about a Standard for Structured Data to Describe Biological Objects -- isn't it? I doubt that "SSDDBO" will win the hearts of many (or a shot at the bottle of cheap Portugues port). Personally, I'm partial to the previously-suggested "BODDS".
Aloha, Rich
Richard L. Pyle Natural Sciences Database Coordinator, Bishop Museum 1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817 Ph: (808)848-4115, Fax: (808)847-8252 email: deepreef@bishopmuseum.org http://www.bishopmuseum.org/bishop/HBS/pylerichard.html
-----Original Message----- From: TDWG - Structure of Descriptive Data [mailto:TDWG-SDD@LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU]On Behalf Of Kevin Thiele Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 10:56 AM To: TDWG-SDD@LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU Subject: Re: Name for the standard
Do people in general think that we need to specify that we're working in the taxonomic domain - something that the name SDD doesn't - or can we be extremely general. Perhaps it's the case that SDD will be able to be used for descriptions outside the taxonomic domain, and we should embrace this (whether anyone else embraces us is another matter entirely) - k
----- Original Message ----- From: "Gregor Hagedorn" G.Hagedorn@BBA.DE To: TDWG-SDD@LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 10:53 PM Subject: Re: Name for the standard
Kevin wrote:
yes, I agree that SDD (Standard for Descriptive Data) would do - I was just looking for something a little more exciting. Cheers - k
.... I disagree :-) that "Standard for Descriptive Data"-standard would do, I therefore propose "Structured Descriptive Data"-standard. I absolutely agree with you about searching something more exciting.
There is a general name grabbing of most-general and all-encompassing names (like BioML, which is really indecent...). Since we think about the generalization from Biological to other collected objects all the time and try to avoid too specifically biological jargon, we actually have some justification following suit and grab
DescriptionML ?
(for which Google returns 1 hit, which interestingly does not contain the term, I even checked the html source...)
Gregor
Gregor Hagedorn (G.Hagedorn@bba.de) Institute for Plant Virology, Microbiology, and Biosafety Federal Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry (BBA) Koenigin-Luise-Str. 19 Tel: +49-30-8304-2220 14195 Berlin, Germany Fax: +49-30-8304-2203
Often wrong but never in doubt!