Re: COMP: online vs print

I love the online database AND the books.

I use the books the same way Neil does, just prowling through, writing
in the margins when I learn something that isn't in the books, manually
doing pedigrees, hunting for other things when the power or my ISP are
off.  Reading the newest R&I cover to cover, just to see what's there.
When my back is out, lying on a heating pad rummaging in hardcover on a
rainy day is nice.

I use the online database when I want info on only one iris that someone
mentions that I don't know - that gives me the date of registration, & I
can go to the books if I want to follow farther back than the 60s.

Other uses:
    Finding all the intros of a particular hybridizer whose kids do well
here (i.e., Zurbrigg)
    Finding all the registered descendants from a particular cultivar
(looking for tough kids to try here).  I'd like to be able to do this
with PINK FORMAL, HELEN COLLINGWOOD, and a few other tough old birds
that aren't online yet.
    Finding seedling names when I have the seedling number/code
    Deciding what to buy - copying and storing in an Excel file all the
info on cultivars that have caught my fancy in a particular catalog.
Easy to sort, more accurate (even with all the typos still in the
database) than my own henscratches on scrap paper.  Some day, I hope
commercial iris places will start selling a CD with all this info in an
Excel file for their customers.  It could include photos - a lot more
satisfying than online with a slow modem and cookie garbage, not to
mention worms and virus problems, software incompatibilities.

If the current checklists (R&I) info were online, I would be more likely
to buy newer irises.  The earlier comment by someone about spending more
money on irises now that the checklists are online certainly applies to
me as well.  It has contributed immensely to the ever increasing number
of irises I grow that are doing well here.

John's comment that the online database isn't AIS surprised me. I
thought that convincing AIS leadership that this is a good thing had
been one of the holdups in getting things going.  Maybe the holdup has
been to make sure AIS doesn't sue?

If it isn't AIS, maybe some of the big commercial iris places
(Schreiners, Cooleys', Suttons) would kick some cash towards getting the
database up to speed?

Grateful as I am to what's available, I've been disappointed at how
slowly it has progressed since the initial database.  John sent me some
50's pages to edit that I finished (except for some unresolved issues
re: differences in format in the 50s data) back in January of 2001.
Previous pages were from October 2002.  John has a life and a job, so
can't spend as much time on this as I wish he would <g>.  I guess there
isn't anybody else around to delegate to or help move things along any
faster.

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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