[NHCOLL-L:340] Re: Data security and availability.

[Donna I. Ford-Werntz]

Andy (& others), I am very interested in hearing thoughts and discussion on
this!  While there may be a legitimate right of public access to most data
(I really don't know the legalities of this), I don't believe that all
details should be made available over the web.  In particular, my
preference for if/when our collections database is put on the internet
would be to withhold site specific database fields (i.e., provide county,
but not location or lat/long) and to protect the collector's identity. 
Users with legitimate needs for this data should be required to contact the
curator and make appropriate arrangements.  One of my pet peeves is all the
data requests we receive where the investigator does not intend to examine
and verify the identity of the material.  The value added by expert
annotation serves to repay in part the institution for its processing and
care of the collection.  Since databasing a collection is often a time
consuming costly operation, it seems reasonable to me that there be charges
for information downloads (vs. coming to gather and record data in person).
 Other ideas (maybe the question should be posted to TAXACOM)?   

Donna I. Ford-Werntz     West Virginia Univ.                                    
Herbarium Curator (WVA)  Box 6057                                               
Asst. Prof. Biol.        Morgantown, WV 26506                                   
425 Brooks Hall          (304)293-5201 X2549                                    
email: diford at wvu.edu    fax: (304)293-6363                                     
Web site at http://www.as.wvu.edu/biology/