[Biobar] Proposal for "microformat" for marking-up species names in HTML: comments and contributions sought

[Andy Mabbett]

Hello,

Those of you using Biobar for taxonomic purposes might all be interested
in recent proposals for a formula (a "microformat"
<http://microformats.org>) for marking-up, in HTML, the names of species
(and subspecies, cultivars, varieties, hybrids, etc.) of plants, animals
and microbes.

Microformats are a way of adding simple markup to human-readable data
items such as events, contact details or locations, on web pages, so
that the information in them can be extracted by software and indexed,
searched for, saved, cross-referenced or combined. More technically,
they are items of semantic markup, using just standard (X)HTML with a
set of common class-names. They are open and available, freely, for
anyone to use.


The proposed format respects all existing biological taxonomies, and is
not intended to change or supplant any of them - it merely provides
webmasters with a method of either:

    1)   marking-up a taxonomical name (or taxon-common name pair) in
         such a way that its components can be recognised by computers

or

    2)   marking up a common name, so as to associative with it a
         taxonomical name, in such a way that the latter's components can
         be recognised by computers

For instance, if I mark up a list of common names on a website I
maintain:

<http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/staffs/tittesworth/latest.htm>

using that microformat, a visitor might have browser tool that lists all
the species on the page, sorted into alphabetical order within taxonomic
class, or in taxonomic order, and then creates links to, say (for Joe
Public) their entries on a field-guide type website, or (for scientists)
some academic database of the users choosing. That tool could be Biobar!


Early thoughts on the format are on an editable "wiki", here:

         <http://microformats.org/wiki/species>

Please feel free to participate - the proposal needs both messages of
support (particularly from people or organisations who have websites on
which they might use them) and, especially, comments and constructive
criticisms? Even a few words saying the Bird Guides has noted the
proposals and will be interested in developments would help.

You can use the above wiki, or the microformats mailing list:

         <http://microformats.org/wiki/mailing-lists>

and/ or please feel free to pass this e-mail to other interested
parties, or use the content in your news pages or newsletters.


Regards,

-- 
Andy Mabbett