A team of scientists crosses the digital divide
today by naming a new species in an electronic publication for the first time.
For scientists, the act of naming species is perhaps even more difficult than
naming their own children. They have to abide by a long list of rules set forth
by the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature, which regulates the
system that adds some 15,000 new species each year to the roll of known animals.
David B. Scott and his colleagues describe three new species of tiny marine
animals called foraminifera in the November 15 issue of Palaeontologia
Electronica. Mr. Scott, a professor and the director of marine geology at
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, says he didn't know he was doing
anything revolutionary until he was told by the journal's co-editor, R. Timothy
Patterson, that nobody had named a species that way before.
The door to electronic naming opened only in January, when a new version of the
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature took effect. And that door opened
just a crack. "At the moment, the code recommends: 'Please don't do it.
Please publish on paper,'" says Philip K. Tubbs, executive secretary of the
international commission. The concern with online publication is that such
reports are ephemeral and could be altered or removed from the World Wide Web,
says Mr. Tubbs.
Palaeontologia Electronica had to jump through some hoops to satisfy the new
rules because, although they allow electronic publication, they do not recognize
publication on the Web, says Mr. Patterson, a professor of geology at Carleton
University in Ottawa. The code requires publication in some durable format that
is produced in unspecified numbers of identical copies and deposited in at least
five libraries. To meet such guidelines, the journal published a CD-ROM of the
current issue at the same time that it officially went online.
Just think how easy Adam had it when he started naming animals in Eden.
From: Chronicle of Higher Education, Wednesday,
November 15, 2000
Information Technology