Rich,
I never meant my post to come across as a criticism of your level of detail (or anyone else's). I believe that all of the messages that have been sent contribute to an understanding of the problem space that a GUID solution must address. I just wanted to limit expectations as to what we could hope to solve within these discussions.
Best wishes,
Donald
--------------------------------------------------------------- Donald Hobern (dhobern@gbif.org) Programme Officer for Data Access and Database Interoperability Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark Tel: +45-35321483 Mobile: +45-28751483 Fax: +45-35321480 ---------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message----- From: Taxonomic Databases Working Group GUID Project [mailto:TDWG-GUID@LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU] On Behalf Of Richard Pyle Sent: 07 November 2005 10:37 To: TDWG-GUID@LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU Subject: Re: Topic 3: GUIDs for Taxon Names and Taxon Concepts
Thanks, Donald -- and my apologies for interpreting too much detail in your request. The question of whether concepts need their own GUIDs, vs. being represented by Name-GUID+Publication-GUID, as posed in your original Post on this "Topic 3", seemed to me a more specific question than the issue of what a "Name" object is or should be -- so I had calibrated my level of specificity in my response too precisely.
I understand and agree that the focus should be broader at this stage, and I will re-calibrate the level of specificity of my comments accordingly.
For example, Yde's suggestions about fundamentally different expectations among zoologists and botanists need to be addressed in the TCS group.
It was discussed among the TCS group -- at GREAT length. There seems no easy answer, other than "different solutions for different Codes", which seems to me to be the genesis of a terrible future legacy....
It all boils down to the distinction of which attributes apply to a Name object, vs. which apply to usage instances. The botanical approach stacks more attributes on the Name object, whereas the zoological approach tends to put them more on the usage instances. But as you suggest, this is something best saved for a Taxonomy GUID subgroup discussion.
In any case, thanks for your clarification of the focus.
Aloha, Rich
Richard L. Pyle, PhD Database Coordinator for Natural Sciences Department of Natural Sciences, Bishop Museum 1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817 Ph: (808)848-4115, Fax: (808)847-8252 email: deepreef@bishopmuseum.org http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/staff/pylerichard.html