[Taxacom] Digitizing Science Collections: Science Briefing for Policymakers

[David Campbell]

> The irony seems to be that with the ever greater emphasis on databasing
> collections there is a corresponding decrease in the value of researchers
> to work that information.

There are at least two aspects to the problem-a general failure to
fund basic systematics and a failure to realize that Garbage In,
Garbage Out applies to bioinformatics.  If all the databases are full
of whatever was typed by underpaid interns, taxonomically uninformed
volunteers, etc., then they will only be meaningfully useable by those
with sufficient taxonomic expertise to figure out the mistakes and
work around them.   However, the existence of big databases makes it
look like a lot is there, if you don't look closely.

Collections databases and other bioinformatics are great, if they have
been done well.  Otherwise, it's biomisinformatics.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
Collections Assistant
The Paleontological Research Institution
1259 Trumansburg Road
Ithaca NY 14850