>I tried to make it clear that the circle locations would be "snapped" to
>a coarse grid.
OK. I see what you mean now.
>> * Names and addresses of all known CP nurseries worldwide
>> (including information about whether or not they field-collect!)
>> * Seed sources
>> * Sources of CP growing supplies, books, etc.
>> * All large and small-scale tissue-culture operations
>> * Instructions for doing your OWN tissue culture
>> * Sources of tissue-culture supplies
>> etc., etc.
>>
>> Gordon
> This is on both the WEB and the listserv archive.
>
> I and many other volunteers have spent *thousands* of hours work
> trying to do this. Everything you've mentioned already exists in
> some form - all linked to the CP WEB page. In most cases, the information
> is constantly improving and getting easier to use every day.
>
> A half-dozen volunteers have worked over three years getting the
> CP-source database in place. (not to mention Jan's work of decades).
>
> Unfortunately, the presentation wasn't good enough for you to find these
> resources yourself.
>
> Rick
Yes, I had already found and read it all! I'm very impressed with all the
CP information that you and everyone else has compiled and am grateful
for how easy it is to access and use. The presentation is also great!
Sorry I didn't mention this in my message, and for making you list all
the links for me - oops :^. I'm going to have to be more careful not
to create so many misunderstandings with my messages.
Like you say, practically all the information I mentioned is already
in the CP Web pages and is very well done. Perhaps I should have stated
my suggestion in a different way: Once the CP location map is in place,
maybe it would be a good idea to add a short introduction to the whole
works so that people see it in the context of: "Here's a whole load of
information to help you obtain and care for your CPs in a much easier,
cheaper, and more ecological way than field collecting. So please don't
misuse the location map." It's also possible that reorganizing some of
it or presenting it in a slightly different way could help make this idea
clearer, and make obtaining plants from cultivation seem much easier and
cheaper than field collecting.
To give a specific example, if the growlist, nursery, and growing
information were linked in with the CP database right along with the
location information, it would make it much more accessible, and make
it seem much easier to obtain the plants from someone instead of someplace.
For example, you could search for a particular species, say N. villosa,
and you would get not only the botanical information and images of the
plant, but also:
- a map of its growing areas
- a list of nureries who sell it
- a list of people who grow, trade and sell it
- growing tips and instructions
There might also be a link that does a search of the CP discussion
archives to pull up messages where this and related species were discussed.
I realize that keeping a database like this up-to-date would be difficult,
since a lot of the supplier and grower information changes very quickly.
I also realize that this is a very ambitious idea - maybe overly ambitious.
The CP Web information, as it is right now, is already very well organized
and easily accessible (I'm definitely not complaining!), so these are
certainly not necessary changes, but rather just ideas that might help to
counterbalance any effects that suddenly placing a superpowerful location
map at our fingertips might have. I hope this clears up my point somewhat.
Best regards,
Gordon Wells
Instituto de Cibernetica
Diagonal 647, planta 2
Barcelona 08028
SPAIN