Natura non facit saltus: But Humans Do, The Need for Taxonomic Annotation. Martin R. Kalfatovic. I Annotate 2018. San Francisco, CA. 7 June 2018.

1. Natura non
facit saltus
But Humans Do, The Need for
Taxonomic Annotation
Martin R. Kalfatovic | BHL Program Director
BHLProgDirector@Twitter
7 June 2018 | I Annotate 2018 (#ianno18)

2. … a couple thousand
meter view of biodiversity
annotation

3. Darwin.
Darwin
VIAF ID: 27063124
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

4. “The cultivation of
natural science
cannot be
efficiently carried
on without
reference to an
extensive library.”
Charles Darwin, et al (1847)

5. Inspiring Discovery through Free Access
to Biodiversity Knowledge
12+ years of inspiring discovery
15th-21st centuries
through
free & open access
to biodiversity literature & archives
from the
Mission
The Biodiversity Heritage Library improves research methodology
by collaboratively making biodiversity literature openly available to
the world as part of a
global biodiversity community.

6. BHL is a Global Consortium
20MEMBERS
AS OF MAY 2018
20AFFILIATES
80+ WORLDWIDE PARTNERS

7. 54+MILLION
PAGES
TITLES VOLUMES
137,000+ 226,000+
183+MILLION
INSTANCES OF TAXONOMIC NAMES
770+IN-COPYRIGHT TITLES LICENSED FOR BHL
AGREEMENTS WITH
340+
LICENSORS
*Stats as of May 2018

8. Darwin.
Darwin
VIAF ID: 27063124
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

10. Charles Darwin’s Library
biodiversitylibrary.org/browse/collection/darwinlibrary
___________________
A digital edition and virtual reconstruction of the surviving
books owned by Charles Darwin.
It also provides full transcriptions of his annotations and
marks. These works provide important insight into the
development of Darwin’s ideas on evolution and natural
selection.
"If this were true, adios theory"
Charles Darwin wrote these words
in response to reading Principles of
Geology, v. 2 (1837) by Charles
Lyell, who was arguing that changes
in species have limitations. Darwin,
on the other hand, argued that
changes in species are infinite and
continuous, an integral concept
crucial to his theory of evolution.
"If this
were true,
adios
theory"

11. Charles Darwin’s Library
biodiversitylibrary.org/browse/collection/darwinlibrary
___________________
A digital edition and virtual reconstruction of the surviving
books owned by Charles Darwin.
It also provides full transcriptions of his annotations and
marks. These works provide important insight into the
development of Darwin’s ideas on evolution and natural
selection.
"If this were true, adios theory"
Charles Darwin wrote these words
in response to reading Principles of
Geology, v. 2 (1837) by Charles
Lyell, who was arguing that changes
in species have limitations. Darwin,
on the other hand, argued that
changes in species are infinite and
continuous, an integral concept
crucial to his theory of evolution.
"If this
were true,
adios
theory"

12. The BHL is a rich field for use of annotations in a scientific
discipline that has historically relied on annotations of the
nearly 300 years of taxonomic description in the print world

13. TheMachineIsUs/ingUs
<Response
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-
instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<Status>ok</Status>
<Result>
<Item>
<ItemID>16800</ItemID>
<Volume/>
<Contributor>MBLWHOI Library</Contributor>
<Sponsor>MBLWHOI Library</Sponsor>
<Language>English</Language>
<LicenseUrl/>
<Rights/>
<DueDiligence/>
<CopyrightStatus/>
<CopyrightRegion/>
</Item>

14. … and though
APIs and
machine use of
BHL is
important, there
is still a need to
human-based
annotations to
the literature in
BHL

15. L.
Linnaeus
VIAF ID: 34594730
Linné, Carl von, 1707-1778

17. Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

18. L.
Linnaeus
VIAF ID: 34594730
Linné, Carl von, 1707-1778
Natura non
facit saltus

21. This “lumping” and
“splitting”, renaming,
finding syonyms, etc.
caused a big problem
when taxonomy was all
done in print form ….

22. Notes and corrections to this
edition, by Strickland, occur
in Ann. & Mag. N.H., VIII,
Jan., 1842, pp. 367-375;
March, 1842, pp. 544-545

29. SPECIES NAMED IN HONOR OF BHL
Vargapupa biheli
“We may think it is natural to have old literature online,
but if we didn't, we would have serious trouble finding the
relevant publications. Therefore
I thought BHL definitely deserves a new species named
after it for the help it provided.”
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3937.1.1
Dr. Barna Páll-Gergely

30. U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-42

34. Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) & the Smithsonian
Smithsonian Regent, 1943-1955
Swearing in of the seventh
Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution Leonard
Carmichael (1953-1964), with
(l-r) Senator Clinton P.
Anderson, Charles Greeley
Abbot (fifth Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution, 1928-
1944), Robert V. Fleming,
Alexander Wetmore (sixth
Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution, 1944-1952), Judge
Harold M. Stephens (chief
judge of the U.S. Court of
Appeals), Leonard
Carmichael, Vannevar Bush,
and Representative Clarence
Cannon.
Smithsonian Institution Archives. SIA 94-12570

35. Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) & the Memex
One can now picture a future
investigator in his laboratory. His
hands are free, and he is not
anchored. As he moves about and
observes, he photographs and
comments. Time is automatically
recorded to tie the two records
together. If he goes into the field, he
may be connected by radio to his
recorder. As he ponders over his
notes in the evening, he again talks
his comments into the record.
Vannevar Bush, in “As We May Think”
“As We May Think”. Life (10 Sep 1945)

36. Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) & Annotation (?)
A record, if it is
to be useful to
science, must
be
continuously
extended, it
must be
stored, and
above all it
must be
consulted.
Hypothetical Memex (1945)
From YouTube Video: Memex animation - Vannevar Bush's diagrams made
real. SheffieldLibraryGuy
Vannevar Bush, in
“As We May Think”

39. The Sixth Extinction
The "normal" rate of extinction is one species every four
years.
Today, species are going extinct at a rate of four per hour.

40. The study of biodiversity is far and away the most important
endeavor in the history of humanity, certainly until now, and very
possibly into the future as well .... We are building the card
catalog for the most important library that has ever existed, and
ever will exist (at least from the perspective of humans).
Richard L. Pyle, Bishop Museum (2010)

42. Thank You!
Martin R. Kalfatovic
BHL Program Director
7 June 2018 | I Annotate 2018