Actually, the point to which I responded was your inaccurate statement that one had to be a member of AIS to obtain access to the Registration information. I see you now wish to make some other points.
I have already spoken to the inaccurate notion that any charges are a fund-raising activity for AIS. AIS is by definition not in it for the money and the rules of the International Registrations scheme are clear as to what is permitted, and what is not.
The policy of the AIS to charge a nominal fee to registrants for registrations is one at which many people also balk, yet you suggest that the normal and expected expenses for running the office should be passed on to them as fees, as distinct from spreading the costs around to all who wish to enjoy access to the information. How, then, is that consistent with making the information available to everyone on an equitable basis? I find I am much attracted to the notion of people helping pick up the bill for that part of the process which benefits them directly.
That said, I think it is only a matter of time before you will get your wish, free electronic information, all you want, if, in fact, AIS survives. But even then there will be a lot of work to be done, and there will be no shortage of people making sure their voice is loudly heard about how best someone else should do it.
-----Original Message-----
From: JamieV. <jamievande@freenet.de>
To: iris-species@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, Dec 7, 2010 6:17 pm
Subject: Re: [iris-species] 'Gerald Darby': Seeds, Descriptions, Nomenclature
Actually, you have reinforced my point. The registries should be a part of public domain. Especially, today, with the internet, there is no reason to purchase a printed document to research names. As much as I love books, this is a waste of paper, IMO. Any costs involved in making this information available should be part of the registration costs in general. The idea of a registry is not to simply record the registrations, but to make this information available. In the past, when printed document was the only method of record transferal available, I understand the need to charge for documents. Today, I find this is no longer a factor. This new tradition of making information a financial good to raise funds is simply not forward thinking. There is already much too much important research locked behind internet portals, that could make life a lot more interesting and future research more relevant. I see no good reason why one should pay a fee for imformation that is intended for the public domain. The ASI needs to re-think this policy.
Jamie Vande
Cologne
Germany
Am 07.12.2010 22:35, schrieb C*@aol.com:
" I wish more of them were available to the general public, which the Iris registry largely isn't. One must be an AIS member to access most of it. --"
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You do not have to be an AIS member to register an Iris name, or to obtain information about registered names or Irises.
The whole purpose of the registration system is to make information available to everyone, everwhere-- the nursery industry, gardeners, hybridizers, and the general public-- for everyone's common benefit and education.
The AIS publishes the registrations for each year as a booklet called "Registrations nd Introductions", and publishes a ten year compilation each decade called a Check List, and these records are available for purchase by anyone. The R&Is are available in the spring of the subsequent year. The AIS Storefront sells Check Lists for each decade back to the 1939 edition, and the prices are very modest. They make excellent gifts for libraries.
The team of proofreaders is working on a new ten year compilation as we speak. At this time, under the agreement by which AIS serves as ICRA for Iris cultivars of the non-bulbous kinds, the Society is mandated to continue to publish the registrations information in hard copy. This publication serves notice to the interested world of the registration or introduction of a unique new cultivar.
There is also an electronic edition of the Check Lists on line, by which I mean the internet, which includes several decades, with more information being added all the time. So far as I am aware, this resources is available to anyone anywhere who pays the small annual fee. If I err in this statement, someone who uses it will, I am sure, correct me. I prefer to use the paper copies, myself.
The fees for either the hard copy, or the electronic copy, are charged not to make profit for AIS, but to offset the expenses of the registration activity, and publishing the information to the world. This is not some shakedown racket AIS has cooked up, it is an honor accorded to it by the knowledgeable members of the international plant community, and, like many such honors, it boils down to a tremendous amount work.
I don't like to refer folks to my own essays since I figure that is sort of tacky, but if someone is interested in this subject, and does not understand how AIS came to be registrar in the first place, they might want to look at the second story down on this page.
AMW
--
Jamie V.
_______________________
KÃln (Cologne)
Germany
Zone 8
