Discover Life in America

John Longino - 24 July, 1999

Re: Unique identifiers -- institution codes

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 10:49:41 -0800
To: pick@pick.uga.edu (John Pickering),
        "Donald Windsor " <WINDSORD@tivoli.si.edu>
From: "John T. Longino" <longinoj@evergreen.edu>
Subject: Re: Unique identifiers -- institution codes
Cc: sackley@compuserve.com, ashe@falcon.cc.ukans.edu, ksem@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu,
        brianb@mizar.usc.edu, colwell@uconnvm.uconn.edu,
        Gladys_Cotter@usgs.gov, christine.deal@intermec.com,
        faulzeitler@ascoll.org, mark_fornwall@usgs.gov,
        Furth.David@NMNH.SI.EDU, whallwac@sas.upenn.edu, djanzen@sas.upenn.edu,
        Johnson.2@osu.edu, mkaspari@ou.edu, longinoj@elwha.evergreen.edu,
        scottm@bishop.bishop.hawaii.org, becky_nichols@nps.gov,
        Chuck_Parker@nps.gov, msharkey@byron.ca.uky.edu, ctemple@intermec.com,
        cthompso@sel.barc.usda.gov, jugalde@inbio.ac.cr,
        pin93001@uconnvm.uconn.edu, windsord@tivoli.si.edu, dl@pick.uga.edu,
        idg@nhm.ac.uk

Pick,

Thanks for the update on barcodes. The Y2K analogy was brilliant. 
I'll look forward to getting the news on the Imager 1470 and the 3240 
printer.

A short comment on face-up barcodes, and scanning a whole unit tray: 
you and I have been back and forth on this. My experience is that 
efficiency or speed of reading is not really an issue. In the whole 
process of inventory and databasing, a very small fraction of the 
time is spent entering data. The scanner in the ALAS lab is not 
beeping day and night. Entering identifications is an extremely 
satisfying final step, taking a day or so, following months of 
specimen collection and preparation, and weeks of taxonomist time 
sorting and identifying. If we had to enter all the unique specimen 
codes by hand, it would indeed be a major burden and prone to errors, 
so the move from manual entry to machine readability is significant. 
But a move from one form of machine readability (upside down labels) 
to a somewhat more efficient form (upside labels or images of whole 
unit trays) seems less significant to me.

There are some other aspects of having upside down labels that I find 
more problematic than the reading efficiency. One is increased 
specimen damage from handling, because the specimen has to be removed 
from the box to be read. This is not really a problem for small 
insects (pointed material), especially when you have a careful 
operator who understands the importance of antennae, tarsi, abdomens, 
etc. Of course, big insects are a problem no matter what, since they 
would tend to obscure an upside label.

The other problem I encounter is determination labels. Some 
taxonomists like to put their mark on every specimen they look at, 
and are not content to have those data reside only in a database. So 
they stick a determination label on every specimen. And of course, 
they don't bother to put it above the barcode (since they are no 
doubt sceptical of the whole barcode enterprise anyway). (can you 
hear my voice rising here? Sorry.)

Now, the negative aspects of upside labels: One is big bugs, 
mentioned above (can you see them under a sphinx moth?). But the 
bigger one is being able to see the printed locality label. And not 
just see it but see it easily, without taking the specimen out and 
squinting sideways under the barcode. Too much of a systematist's 
work is analyzing geographic variation, and often you spend your time 
scanning over the tops of unit trays (visually, not with a laser) 
looking for labels that say "Afganistan," so that you can quickly 
look at material all from one area.

So there are the pros and cons that I see. By warning against upside 
labels, I'm just trying to protect your future reputation, Pick. I 
have this vision of future generations of entomologists, gradually 
developing this Pick rage over their careers, reinforced in tiny 
little increments, every time their view of a locality record is 
obscured by that damned barcode.

Cheers,
Jack







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John T. Longino
Lab I, The Evergreen State College
Olympia WA 98505 USA
longinoj@evergreen.edu
Ants of Costa Rica on the Web at http://www.evergreen.edu/ants
Project ALAS at http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/ALAS/ALAS.html
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Discover Life in America | Science | Unique Identifiers & Barcodes | Correspondence | John Longino - 24 July, 1999