uBio

[Doug Yanega]

Dave:

I got the impression that what Chris was criticizing was the evident
lack of an incentive for collaboration aside from altruism; nowhere
on uBio's pages or in your message was there any mention of your
collaborators being paid to help compile this information for
submission to uBio. Maybe you do pay, but an explicit statement would
be helpful if so. If it does NOT pay people to collaborate, with
actual money, then Chris' tone may be deserved; the bottom line for
many taxonomists who are struggling to keep their jobs, or keep their
institutions afloat, is not whether or not their efforts are being
made use of, but whether they can put on their CV that they have
received X amount of grant dollars in the past year. If uBio gives no
grant dollars, then it does not help the taxonomic community the way
it needs most to be helped - by keeping taxonomists employed. Sure,
money is going to data managers and website designers, but apparently
not going to the people doing the research on which the entire
edifice is based. The argument of "Gee, if we don't give the public
proof that taxonomy is useful to them, how can we count on public
support?" is too many steps removed from this bottom line. Increased
public awareness of the role and utility of taxonomy is an important
and even essential long-term goal, yes, but it will not help NOW, nor
will it help if there are no museums or taxonomists left 10 or 20
years from now. Unless, of course the public you're talking about
making aware is that 2% of the public that controls 90% of the
wealth, and you can get them to pour that wealth directly into the
pockets of desperate taxonomists. ALL tried that, and it didn't get
very far. Can uBio do better?

I think the issue is more than just philosophy at this point. We are
at a crossroads in a desert, and our tank is nearly empty. Why should
we voluntarily give away some of what little fuel we have left? Will
you repay it back to us tenfold?

Sincerely,
--

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82