Topic 3: GUIDs for Taxon Names and Taxon Concepts

Richard Pyle deepreef at BISHOPMUSEUM.ORG
Fri Nov 4 11:23:06 CET 2005


Hi Chuck,

> I think it will be a difficult enough task for GBIF/TDWG
> to standardize and implement the simplest of GUID approaches.
> To do more risks getting the whole thing bogged down.  Can
> we limit the first round of this work to the simpler, easier-to-do
solution?

I can certainly agree to that (and to Ricardo's similar plea)!  My original
point, as you repeated in your post, was the issue of understanding what
"object" gets a Name-GUID (distinguished from a Specimen-GUID or a
Publication-GUID).  The discussion about the degree to which GUIDs are
shared vs. created anew was a tangent discussion that easily can (and
should) be postponed to another time.

> So, precisely deciding even the simplest of name "atoms" for
> which GUIDs will be standardized and implemented is a significant task.

Agreed (of course)...but do you mean that it is a "significant task" in the
sense of overwhelming (e.g., that we should defer it for a later time)?  Or
do you mean "significant" as in "important" (e.g., that we should spend some
time discussing it before getting too far ahead)?

Aloha,
Rich




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