[Babase] six month plan

Karl O. Pinc babase@www.eco.princeton.edu
Mon, 10 May 2004 13:04:17 -0500


On 2004.05.06 15:49 Susan Alberts wrote:

> 12. We need to keep a running list of all errors and whether we have 
> fixed them, and I think it can't just be the babase mailing list. 
> Steph, you and I need to come up with a system for this, and for 
> indicating how we prioritized the errors and what their status is. 
> Can you put this on your list of things we need to talk about please? 
> Anyone else want to give input on this?

You could just keep a list and post it periodically to the mailing
list in it's entirety.  Or we've got a babase web site and could
use that.  This would involve telling everybody how to modify
the babase web site via login.biology.duke.edu.

> -Karl has made a suggestion that we give all dead animals a dcause 
> (currently all prior to mid-2001 have "no dcause"). I think this 
> needs to be done at Princeton, as we have an informal policy (which I 
> think we should adhere to rigidly) that we won't make permanent 
> changes to the database at Duke until the new system is up and 
> running.  If we start making some changes at Duke at this point we 
> run a real risk of losing track of which copy is the "real" copy. 
> Especially if the change takes days or weeks, and some changes are 
> being made to the same file at Princeton, even inadvertently. So, 
> Jeanne and Daphne should come up with a plan for doing this.

This should be straightforward.  Use the database to update
en-masse all the dead individuals with no dcause and change dcause
to either 'unknown' or something else.

Karl <kop@meme.com>
Free Software:  "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
                  -- Robert A. Heinlein