Daniel, I am doing a plant id internet project at Kwantlen and have chosen this site as one to do a summary of. Could you tell me what you do at UBC so I can explain who the guy is that answers the messages? Much appreciated, Krista
Hello Krista, I'm the Bioinformatics and Web Manager. While the web site side of things is fairly self-explanatory, I generally have to explain the bioinformatics part. Bioinformatics is a discipline that deals with the organization, presentation and sharing of biological data. My main responsibility at UBC over the next few years is to get our collections data online while also integrating the various forms of data we have (slides, digital photos, accession records) into one database. I answer some of the plant identification questions because my background is in plant taxonomy and ecology. However, I'd also like to point out that Douglas Justice, UBC's Curator of Collections (and former instructor at Kwantlen) also answers many of the questions, so you may want to profile him as well.
Thanks for the explanation. Sounds like you have your hands full! I will indeed use Douglas Justice as well. I am also glad to have stumbled on to this site. I enjoy reading the letters and will undoubtedly learn plenty! Krista
