[tdwg-content] [tdwg-tag] Inclusion of authorship in DwC scientificName: good or bad?

[Steve Baskauf]

Markus Döring (GBIF) wrote:
> What Darwin Core offers right now are 2 ways of expressing the name:
>
> A) the complete string as dwc:scientificName
> B) the atomised parts:
>     genus, subgenus, specificEpithet, infraspecificEpithet, verbatimTaxonRank (+taxonRank), scientificNameAuthorship
>
> Those 2 options are there to satisfy the different needs we have seen in this thread - the consumers call for a simple input and the need to express complex names in their verbatim form.
> Is there really anything we are missing? 
>   
Yes!  A consensus on dwc:taxonRank as to whether Latin or English should 
be used (see http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Taxon#taxonRank).  
I think it is bad to have a controlled vocabulary with two options for 
every possible value.  Why make all software check for two alternatives 
when a consensus would fix the problem?  (Consensus... did I say that 
word in a tdwg-content email????)

Steve

-- 
Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences

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