Comments on: Speaking of Aspergillus ochraceus… http://mycorant.com/speaking-of-aspergillus-ochraceus/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=speaking-of-aspergillus-ochraceus What could possibly be better than a fungus study? Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:20:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Kathie Hodge http://mycorant.com/speaking-of-aspergillus-ochraceus/comment-page-1/#comment-4717 Kathie Hodge Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:48:49 +0000 http://mycorant.com/?p=1005#comment-4717 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Fungi" rel="nofollow">WikiProject Fungi</a> is a central collaboration site on wikipedia. But it's ok to just find a page that needs work and work on it. In general we want succinct, factual prose that is appropriately referenced with good primary or secondary sources. Good, copyright-free photos are also needed for many fungi. A competitor (??) of wikipedia is the <a>Encyclopedia of Life</a>, which has the potential to be much more authoritative. However, it'll take a long time to catch up. Right now, most EoL fungus pages just pull info directly from wikipedia and other sites, and that info is not always what you'd hope for. See, for e.g., this typical contrast: Agaricus arvensis on <a href="http://www.eol.org/pages/193707" rel="nofollow">EoL</a> versus <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_arvensis" rel="nofollow">wikipedia</a>. See what I mean? WikiProject Fungi is a central collaboration site on wikipedia. But it’s ok to just find a page that needs work and work on it. In general we want succinct, factual prose that is appropriately referenced with good primary or secondary sources. Good, copyright-free photos are also needed for many fungi.

A competitor (??) of wikipedia is the Encyclopedia of Life, which has the potential to be much more authoritative. However, it’ll take a long time to catch up. Right now, most EoL fungus pages just pull info directly from wikipedia and other sites, and that info is not always what you’d hope for. See, for e.g., this typical contrast: Agaricus arvensis on EoL versus wikipedia. See what I mean?

]]> By: Philip http://mycorant.com/speaking-of-aspergillus-ochraceus/comment-page-1/#comment-4696 Philip Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:15:25 +0000 http://mycorant.com/?p=1005#comment-4696 Now that's what I'm talking about Kathie. Is there any cooperation or planning that goes on among the active mycology editors? Now that’s what I’m talking about Kathie. Is there any cooperation or planning that goes on among the active mycology editors?

]]> By: Kathie Hodge http://mycorant.com/speaking-of-aspergillus-ochraceus/comment-page-1/#comment-4693 Kathie Hodge Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:50:58 +0000 http://mycorant.com/?p=1005#comment-4693 Hi Phil, I've done some editing at Wikipedia, mostly when I am suffering from insomnia. The fungi need a lot of work, but there's an impressive group of regulars working on them, including several professional mycologists and a bunch of really good nonprofessionals. Plant pathogens have a dedicated group too. Where it exists at all, the information is usually high quality, IMO. Wikipedia is a first source of information for lots of "normal" people. The more we contribute, the better it will get. If you have a little time to write some well-referenced prose, all of you MycoRant readers, do lend a hand--it's easy and can reach a lot of people. You don't have to complete a full entry, just what you can, and the articles develop nicely over time as others contribute. Hi Phil, I’ve done some editing at Wikipedia, mostly when I am suffering from insomnia. The fungi need a lot of work, but there’s an impressive group of regulars working on them, including several professional mycologists and a bunch of really good nonprofessionals. Plant pathogens have a dedicated group too. Where it exists at all, the information is usually high quality, IMO.

Wikipedia is a first source of information for lots of “normal” people. The more we contribute, the better it will get. If you have a little time to write some well-referenced prose, all of you MycoRant readers, do lend a hand–it’s easy and can reach a lot of people. You don’t have to complete a full entry, just what you can, and the articles develop nicely over time as others contribute.

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