On Thu, 13 Oct 1994 19:59:22 -0400,
Robert A. Baron  <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
>Responding to msg by [log in to unmask] (Julian Humphries) on...
 
>>In article <[log in to unmask]>
>>"Robert A. Baron" <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>>
>>>So far I'm rather disappointed in the ways museums have
>>>employed internet acces to their collection information.
>>>[at] gopher.peabody.yale.edu I queried mamalian skeletons for the
>>>word "elephant" and obtain a record from Alaska: a wolf
>>>skeleton from "Elephant Point."
 
>>Regardless of the merits (or faults) of WAIS indexing as
>>employeed by the Peabody don't confuse the issue of fields
>>with queries by common names.  The word "elephant" does not
>>appear because it not a precise way to locate biological
>>specimens.  The data in biological collections has many
>>uses, but typically anyone needing that information would
>>know to search for the word "Loxodonta" or "Elephas". [Humphries]
 
>Ok, the point is well taken. I wasn't using the technical
>vocabulary needed to access the peabody database in a
>productive manner.  But that is the point precisely, the tools
>needed to get useful data are not there.  Admittedly, anamalia
>is not my field.  But what if I were trying to check a database
>from a major art museum, and I just didn't realize which form
>of the artist name works were used for the index. (I could
>ponder forever.) (Sometimes there is a rather large choice, and
>sometimes one must use many forms of names.)  The problem is
>the same and even more acute for the online public than for the
>professional staff at the museum.  In the Peabody situtation
>some kind of thesaurus front end would have helped me, just as
>it would help me when executing a query in my own field where
>usage and terminologies tent to create many alternate (even
>conflicting) forms. [Baron]
 
The Peabody is in the process of incorporating plant and animal common
names into its thesauri/databases, so that these names will be available
on the gopher (birds, fish, and mammals will be among the first
candidates).  We began to do this in large part because the gopher
transaction logs from the summer indicated that many folks, presumably
non-specialists, were indeed trying common names as entrees into the data.
 
One issue is the target audience.  The Peabody gopher was designed for the
scientific research community.  However, adding some common names is a
fairly painless way for us to make the same data more palatable to
non-specialists who access it.
 
The transaction logs also show that Mr. Baron didn't read any of the
support documents on the gopher's menus when he visited us
electronically a few days ago.  These describe the purpose and scope of
the gopher, the history of the museum and its collections, and offer
guidance and hints on searching that we hope are useful to end users.
 
 
....................................................................
Lawrence F. Gall            internet:  [log in to unmask]      :
Systems Office                 voice:  (203)-432-9892              :
Peabody Museum, Yale Univ.       FAX:  (203)-432-9816              :
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