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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">I beg to differ. I can't speak to taxa
other than birds, but there are thousands and thousands of
recreational birders and wildlife photogs around the world who
would love to have the coordinates of rare species, particularly
if taken on nesting grounds (as so many are philopatric). And
there are problems like the greatly misguided reward for proof of
a living Ivory-billed Woodpecker. More modern records with precise
GPS data (as opposed to block and minute) would be quite useful in
cases like these.<br>
<br>
Ellen<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Ellen Paul
Executive Director
The Ornithological Council
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net">ellen.paul@verizon.net</a>
"Providing Scientific Information about Birds<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET">"
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET"</a>
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On 7/11/13 12:54 PM, Doug Yanega wrote:<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:51DEE345.1020801@ucr.edu" type="cite">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/11/13 9:01 AM, Mireia Beas-Moix
wrote:<br>
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<blockquote
cite="mid:CAKVpLFOaNZq8XKje0FztqiS-cF34nVyANcx9DKYCbdqT4r=BMQ@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#222222">I
have a question for curators who have uploaded their specimen
records to an online database. Did you clean your data and
hide information for particular specimens, species or
localities? For example, you may want to block access to the
geographic coordinates for the locality of an endangered
species.</span><br>
</blockquote>
I've heard this idea (re: endangered taxa in databases) voiced
repeatedly for at least 20 years now, and have found that in
reality it rarely makes a difference; *most* such species have
their distributions well-enough known and publicized that there is
no new information being offered by putting the specimen records
online. This includes the fact that a lot of specimen records of
such taxa are old enough that the species no longer occurs where
the specimen was found, meaning that not only does concealing the
data serve no purpose, but it makes it harder for researchers
using data to track changes in species distributions over time. I
consider data concealment something that can only be decided on a
record-by-record basis, with careful thinking about the
consequences - any "blanket" policy stands to do more harm than
good. If you're concerned enough, then spend some time googling
your taxon of interest and SEE for yourself how much detail you
can find online regarding the distribution - and only be concerned
if the information in your database would be a significant
addition to what is already easily available.<br>
<br>
Peace,<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://cache.ucr.edu/%7Eheraty/yanega.html">http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html</a>
"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82</pre>
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