pcplantdb

[Chad Knepp <pyg@galatea.org>]

Hello everyone,

I want to apologize for my fractious attitude regarding pcplantdb
projects.  I am afraid I have caused more disinterest than interest in
the project by outspokenly going my own way.  I really do have high
hopes for a collaborative database that benefits everyone and I think
I just [over] reacted to most of the group heading in a direction I
had concerns about.

I encourage folks on the list to continue development of the project
even if funding does not become available and I recommend using the
Eden code base as a foundation for future development.  Although I
don't have a lot of time for development I do have some goals for 2004
that I think I can fit into my free time.

  o Distributed Database Updates: Create a distribution system of
    digitally signed patches to the dataset to facilitate
    collaboration.  Example: L. London writes a couple of articles on
    Agroecology and creates an update available on his website that
    users can be apply to their dataset.  It is digitally signed so
    that if you trust Lawrence you can trust that the information he
    is providing is non-malicious and correct.

  o Merge plants.udsa.gov: I have been corresponding with folks from
    plants.usda.gov and have obtained a copy of that database that can
    be assimilated under the CC license.  I'm not sure of the level of
    overlap yet, but I would use this info to fill out missing
    elements and correct areas such as height/width/hardiness/etc. 

  o Add article and image support:  Self-explanatory.  Maybe even
    spider public domain images from plants.usda.gov.

I am excluding from my personal goals a number of things that I think
would be fabulous to do but can't commit to such as editing tools to
automate the creation of dataset patches from edits and additions,
plant relationship infrastructure and plant community models necessary
for guild design tools, install tools, etc.


-- 
Chad Knepp
perl -e 'print pack"H*","7079674067616c617465612e6f72670a"'