[Taxacom] Kickstarter for Taxonomy

[Doug Yanega]

Stephen Thorpe wrote:

>Call me cynical, but there has been some discussion on this on 
>Twitter already, and some of us tend to the view that video 
>conferencing would be a better and cheaper alternative to face to 
>face meetings, so I guess it would be interesting to know how much 
>ICZN money gets spent on travel/accommodation/catering etc. for 
>meetings?

Given the reality, I'd call that excessively cynical. We don't have 
face-to-face meetings as a group, and even a video/skype conference 
would be nearly impossible, given that Commissioners are scattered 
across the planet. In order to have everyone online simultaneously, 
SOMEONE would have to be awake at some ungodly hour in their 
particular time zone. We do everything presently by e-mail, though 
this may change in the near future to be more web-based. I expect I 
will serve my term as a Commissioner without ever meeting most of my 
colleagues in person even once (I've met only four of the present 
Commissioners, and only *one* of those post-dates my joining the 
Commission!).

Like Frank, I'm baffled as to where any impressions to the contrary 
could be originating. Maybe they're not so much "impressions" as 
"unfounded assumptions"?

Peace,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (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