Premium
Databasing diversity – a distributed, public‐domain approach
Author(s) -
Green David G.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.2307/1223460
Subject(s) - the internet , computer science , public domain , field (mathematics) , domain (mathematical analysis) , consistency (knowledge bases) , data science , taxon , information retrieval , world wide web , ecology , biology , geography , artificial intelligence , mathematical analysis , mathematics , archaeology , pure mathematics
Summary Green, D. G.: Databasing diversity – a distributed, public‐domain approach. – Taxon 43: 51‐62. 1994. – ISSN 0040‐0262. Distributed, public domain databases (DPDD) offer solutions to many of the problems that hinder compilation of information on biodiversity. Existing DPDD projects on Internet, especially in molecular biology, provide relevant paradigms. The software tools necessary for world‐wide retrieval of associated text and images are all freely available on Internet. Essential features of DPDDs include universal access, decentralized maintenance of component data sets, and the use of standard, tagged formats for entries. Desirable validation protocols include cross‐checks for consistency, use of quality control tags and tracing data lineage back to specimens. These issues highlight a need for new conventions on nomenclature and for registering field keys and other secondary taxonomic indexes.