Limitless Possibilities

David Remsen’s uBio Project enables users to contribute various classifications to species and does not neglect or refuse any “oddball” descriptions.  I can see why some scientists may not fully appreciate this project because instead of having a method of devising concrete subjects, uBio goes against this and lets people list what to seems to be limitless possibilities.  Scientists similar to mathematicians are about having a stable, black or white, concrete answer; however, Remsen’s project dismembers this theory and continues to build on layer after layer resulting in the ever daunting gray area.  While investigating uBio’s website, I typed in the search bar “shark” and came up with four scientific matches and 733 other matches which allows you to understand the immeasurable amount of results coming from such a basic search.  I think that between uBio and ZooBank, which Weinberger illustrated as a complete opposite project, shows how information is tailored in two different ways.  ZooBank, which is sponsored by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, instead of allowing numerous types of descriptions, devises a method in which they meticulously select and choose.  When I typed the word “shark” into this information resource it gave me six authors, 488 publications, and 81 nomenclature acts that were relevant to my search.  Although I still find these results to be large and impressive, as a biologist this may limit my research on this particular project whereas uBio may have more information to look up such as a different word used for a shark.  

There are several other information resources that use this type of model including Wikipedia.  Wikipedia does not limit the amount of information by specifically picking and choosing what they like.  Remsen similar to the creator of Wikipedia understands and recognizes that it is nearly impossible for people to agree on one particular subject.  Both of these information resources use collaboration as a strategy to tackle the tough issue of the miscellaneous.  Another great information resource, which I use frequently, is www.imdb.com, similar to Wikipedia and uBio it allows users as Weinberger noted about Remsen’s idea to, “not deliver the single right answer but to provide the maximum potential knowledge”.  Imdb.com has a list of editing policies, provided below that discuss even though they accept contributors, there are always guidelines to follow so that the information may be credible.  There is always going to be an argument about how a subject is classified such as the genre “comedy” which may include a movie or television show that someone may find to be considered in the genre “family”.   I think that these three information resources provide options and the ability to provide our own topics, ideas or further descriptions.  

Personally, I think that information resources similar to the ones I have discussed might help us see many different connections in the digital age by providing opportunity.  Our knowledge is limitless and the potential is growing so our need to see connections is an important issue especially in the field of librarianship and how it is and will further be affected by the digital age.  Remsen provided us with a structure that includes the importance of sharing and collaborating.  I recently was introduced to a website http://www.lirn.net/ which in my opinion is a good building block to institutions providing information resources.  While the structure of the site seems a little outdated, I still think that libraries can use this as a way to offer access to a plethora of resourceful sites that may help patrons, fellow librarians, and researchers in the digital age.