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[pcplantdb] All things to all people

From: Richard Morris <webmaster@pfaf.org>
To: pcplantdb <pcplantdb@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [pcplantdb] All things to all people
Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2002 16:35:47 +0000

After a bit of reflection on the discussions so far and the
unresolved sticking points I got to thinking that maybe we do not want
a database we want a meta database. This would feature
tables from various sources which may contain duplicate info.

EG:
Table: PFAF data
Author: Ken Fern and Plants For A Future
Date: 1/1/2001

Fields: Latin Name, Common Name, Edible Uses, Medicinal Uses,...

Table: PC-Zone Info
Author: Rich Morris
Date: 1/1/2001

Fields: Botanical Name, PC-Zone, Function in Zone

Table: US-only Plant Info
Author: Laurence London
Date: 1/1/2001

Fields: Latin Name, US State, US Common Name, Guild Info,.....

This allows each author to produce data which they are more interested
in and also gives a strong establishment of ownership.

The various tables could be combined by a sort of template
information.

<html>
<body>
<h1>[PFAF data]![Latin Name]</h1>
<p>Common Name: [PFAF data]![Common Name],
[US-only Plant Info]![US Common Name]
</p>
.....

Different Authors could establish their own templates and users
could select their preferred templates.

Searches could also be controlled by some sort of template
feature.

Doing this could also be real fun for the hackers in the group.

What do folks think?

Rich
--
Plants for a Future: 7000 useful plants
Web: http://www.pfaf.org/ or http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
Main Site: Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, England
Tel: (+44 845) 458 4719
Email: webmaster@pfaf.org (web related queries only)
PFAF electronic mailing list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pfaf

[pcplantdb] All things to all people, Richard Morris, 01/04/2002
- Re: [pcplantdb] All things to all people, memexikon, 01/05/2002
- Re: [pcplantdb] All things to all people, John Schinnerer, 01/09/2002