What needs to be done

[Mike Dallwitz]

From: Kevin Thiele <kevin.thiele at PI.CSIRO.AU>
To: TDWG-SDD

> DELTA does need to be replaced because it's holding us back, ...[partly]
> because the DELTA file format for storing descriptive data is intimately
> tied with one particular program for manipulating descriptive data. ...
> Many of the elements in my proposal document are not covered by DELTA. I
> think we need them, and have found that waiting for the DELTA standard to
> be changed is not adequate.

In 1993, we published proposals for enhancements to the DELTA format:

Dallwitz, M. J., Paine, T. A., and Zurcher, E. J. (1993). Preliminary
suggestions for new features for the DELTA system. DELTA Newsletter 9, 2-13.

Dallwitz, M. J., Paine, T. A. and Zurcher, E. J. (1993 onwards). Proposed
new features for the DELTA system. http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/

We have not received much feedback on these proposals, and none, as far as I
can remember, from Kevin or other members of the LucID team. None of the
proposals have yet been implemented in our software, so it is difficult to
see how being 'tied with one particular program' has hindered progress. On
the other hand, some of the proposals _have_ been implemented in LucID -
perhaps that's what's holding us back :-).

--

Mike Dallwitz

CSIRO Entomology, GPO Box 1700, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Phone: +61 2 6246 4075   Fax: +61 2 6246 4000
Email: md at ento.csiro.au  Internet: biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/