<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Your points are taken. We will develop the
possibility to add pictures to voucher specimen information (there are others
who have requested this as well, so actually it was on our to-do list).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>The major source of pictures in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">WoRMS</st1:City></st1:place> comes from the
MarBEF speciesgallery: <a href="http://www.marbef.org/speciesgallery">http://www.marbef.org/speciesgallery</a>,
where everyone can submit pictures of species and they have the possibility to link
them to a species name in our database. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>We thought we should build an email warning
system once a picture is uploaded, so that the taxonomic editor can verify the
identity. But I also agree that we should only show pictures on our species
register once they have been vetted by the taxonomic experts. As a taxonomic
expert you can now already add/edit and delete pictures. Actually only experts
can add pictures via <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">WoRMS</st1:City></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I resume: Taxonomic experts only can add
pictures via <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">WoRMS</st1:place></st1:City>
and these immediately appear on the website. Pictures added via MarBEF or other
sources to our pictures database are only displayed in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">WoRMS</st1:place></st1:City> after a quality check by the experts.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>for the near future,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span lang=NL style='font-size:7.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee</span></font><span lang=NL><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>The most important thing, IMHO, is not to
have voucher specimens or expert identification with each and every picture,
but to offer visitors to the web site a clear and objective way of judging the
degree of belief they should attach to an identification. Obviously the gold
standard is a picture of a voucher specimen identified by an acknowledged
authority. We have some pictures like that, but unfortunately only a very small
fraction of our collection meets that standard. As long as we make sure that
end users know what degree of confidence they can have in de identification, I
don’t see a problem in this. This being said, I like the idea of a
‘moderated’ list – where everyone can submit, but pictures
are only shown after the taxonomist has ‘approved’ the
identification. An intermediate solution could be to hide un-moderated pictures
by default, and only show them after the user has been made to see a health
warning. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>There are tables to store information on
specimens – I do not think that these have links to the pictures right
now; that is another issue we might want to improve. Also, it’s clear
that the pictures of specimens, in taxonomic terms, will be more valuable than
field pictures. So if we do create links between specimens and pictures, we should
look for ways to bring these to the taxon details page, rather than to hide
them on the specimens details page, one click away from the main taxon details
page.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Dear friends,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Most of the pictures available in internet
cannot be linked to a voucher specimen. After several unsuccessful attempts to
get some deep water specimens, nicely photographed in several websites, Leslie
Harris has told me that most photographers of underwater creatures feel better
by making the photographs than collecting, killing, and preserving the
specimen.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>I have noticed that despite the impressive
organisms being depicted, there are no means to check some of the certainly
less spectacular, but diagnostic features in the specimen, simply because there
is no specimen at all.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>I support <u1:City u2:st="on"><u1:place u2:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Nancy</u1:place></u1:City></st1:place></st1:City>’s
and Kristian's suggestion and wish we have more voucher materials backing up
both, photographs and ecological studies.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Un abrazo,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Sergio<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 16:38:48 -0500<br>
From: njmaciolek@gmail.com<br>
To: evberghe@iobis.org<br>
Subject: Re: WoRMS project Re: [Annelida] Clymenura polaris originaldescription<br>
CC: annelida@magpie.bio.indiana.edu; info@marinespecies.org;
grassle@marine.rutgers.edu; g.read@niwa.co.nz<br>
<br>
Edward wrote:<br>
"While we are very restrictive on who we give edit rights to the taxonomic
information, anyone can upload pictures, and put a name on it; and the picture
would automatically appear on the authoritative page of the species, thus
confounding very rigorously controlled edited content with something over which
we have no control at all."<br>
<br>
<br>
Why not restrict the posting of pictures in the same way that you restrict
editing of text? Alternatively, put the pictures in a moderation queue so that
they do not appear automatically, but only after they have been approved. There
is no advantage to building a pictorial database quickly if it contains errors,
whether small or egregious.<br>
<br>
best wishes,<br>
<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Nancy</st1:place></st1:City><br>
<br>
Nancy J. Maciolek, Ph.D.<br>
Polychaete Editor, Zootaxa<br>
<a href="http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/index.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
