[Taxacom] My-Plant.org - a social network for plant taxonomists

[Richard Olmstead]

Here is an interesting new development: social networking in the 
interest of science!  Check out My-Plant 
at <https://my-plant.org/>https://my-plant.org/

On top of features you would expect from a standard social networking 
tool like Facebook, My-Plant has a phylogenetic structure where 
people can join groups of people with similar professional interests 
at any nested level on the tree of green plants.  If your favorite 
clade isn't yet represented, you can suggest adding it.

This is completely free for all to join and free of advertisements; 
it is supported by the US National Science Foundation through the 
iPlant Collaborative.  Even without joining you can see all content, 
but you need to join to be able to add content.

While Taxacom has is useful for announcements of general nature and 
debates that have a broad taxonomic interest, My-Plant has many 
advantages for plant taxonomists with its nested structure, focused 
(and archived) discussion threads, picture and movie sharing, links 
to GenBank and bibliographic sites, etc.

The site has been 'live' only a couple of weeks and the hierarchical 
tree structure is sparse.  However, the tree will grow as more users 
register and participate.  Create your own 'clade' group and invite 
colleagues to join to build a community of users with similar 
taxonomic interests.

I encourage everyone to check it out, and join in!


-- 
Richard Olmstead
Professor of Biology and Herbarium Curator, Burke Museum
Department of Biology		For express mail services:
Box 355325				Department of Biology
University of Washington			Hitchcock Hall Rm 423
Seattle,  WA  98195-5325			University of Washington
USA					Seattle, WA  98195

Office: 206-543-8850
lab:            206-543-6594
herbarium:      206-543-1682
FAX:            206-685-1728
email:          olmstead at u.washington.edu     
http://www.biology.washington.edu/index.html?navID=42&parecID=273