Marty and Jan should know by now that I have always been
supportive of the sections and have done more work on sectional
projects than most people long before I came to the AIS board, I do not
remember Terry ever writing an article for the SSI bulletin, I sure it
was not memorable but I can claim at least one. I started this project
over five years ago hoping it would help all Iris societies. I agree we
all need a better internet prescence. I thought I was being useful to
all the groups and am a little dissappointed that Terry see this as AIS
dominating a section. For heavens sake we are all supposed to be part
of one big society but somehow it seems we are supposed to be competive
with each other. I do not see this. I have a dog that when I give her a
treat she misjudges and bites my finger. After awhile one does not give
many treats. I thought I was doing something nice for the Siberian
Society but I feel like my finger hurts.
While working on this project I have talked with the presidents of
the Hemerocallis Society, The Rock Garden Society, and the director of
the Daffodil Society plus the directer of the wiki of the pacific Bulb
Society trying to see what their experiences have been. Presently what
we are creating is much more open and free to everyone yet somehow that
message does not seem to be heard. The reason there have been
discussions about limiting access for posting, but not viewing is that
there have been instances of people putting pornography up a least one
plant wiki and that is why most are more closed that our system. If we
encounter malevalence in the future we may have to limit access. But we
are not trying to exclude or profit from this site.
I came to the Iris society through the dwarf section and the
species section, later I joined AIS. My experience seems to be
relatively unique. Most people join the Iris society and then discover
various types of Iris and join the sections. It would seem to me that
encouraging membership in AIS could only bring more people to the
Siberian Section. If one looks at the wiki even while under
construction it sends people to all the plant societies whether they
are cooperating or not. I will continue to support the Siberian section
whether they wish to support my efforts or not. This is not about just
a certain group but about Iris.
Hi all,
When Terry's post came, Marty and I talked about it and our first
reaction was that we didn't see why it mattered whether the Wiki for
Siberians is in the AIS Wiki or on an SSI Wiki. Since AIS has already
started it, why not just have it there. And what a wonderful thing it
would be. But the ensuing posts shows how important it is for there to
be a thorough discussion about this. I think wherever the Wiki is, it
should be available to everyone, not just members of AIS or SSI. The
thing that makes the internet so fabulous is that most of the
information is free to anyone. I think plant societies, including AIS
and SSI, should attract new members by the vitality of their society
and not by making their on-line information exclusive to members only.
We want to excite people about Iris growing and then they will want to
be part of our organizations. The internet is an opportunity to reach
people we never have before. (This concept was put forth very well by
Anner Whitehead in the last BIS Yearbook.)
If AIS does not want to make this information available to all, then I
think SSI should consider doing it on their own website. I was pleased
to get the link to Daffseek. The information there is great and the
pedigrees are a bonus. I am not a member of the Am Daffodil Society
but the information on the site is valuable to me. Having such a good
site might draw me into joining the society.
Maybe through a sharing of thoughts on this subject we can improve the
whole project, or start a new one.
Jan Sacks
-----Original
Message-----
From: tjnzatwork <tjatwork@orcon.
net.nz>
To: sibrob@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, Jan 2, 2010 3:10 pm
Subject: [sibrob] Re: Iris Encyclopedia
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL
This subject of the Iris encyclopedia needs to be discussed within the
SSI and it is important that the Society for Siberian Iris gets more
air . Why not start our own Wiki for Siberians as the SSI checklist is
the best example of a Cumulative Check list that I have seen so why
should all that hard work be to the advantage of another Iris
Society.There is a mountain of photos of siberians within the
membership and as we are well aware the culture of Siberian Irises is
relatively young and most of the legendary Hybridisers are still alive
to place there own thoughts on their fantastic breeding efforts, so Why
not???
The Daffodil Society started a site
Daffseek just pull
down the Division and select and then select a country press 'submit
query' and "Voilà " Check out the Pedigree Chart.
If we have an asset in our society we should think seriously before we
give it away,which is what Bob is asking, and if we do give it away how
hard will it be for the Society for Siberian Iris to stay relevant in
this digital world.
As our Cumulative Check list is already digital in the form of a word
doc it would only take weeks to get a wiki type function attached to
our existing Web Site.
--- In sibrob@yahoogroups.
com, Robert Pries <robertpries@...>
wrote:
>
>
>
> Here is a new site under development that needs your help. The
Americn Iris Society is creating an online encyclopedia of Iris. If you
are familiar with the wikipedia than you know what the potential is for
this site. At first glance you may think it is only and online
illustrated checklist of every type of Iris. You would be correct but
it will be much more. There are 65,000 entries in the AIS checklists
and ultimately all will have their own page, up to 20 pictures for each
and a chance for scores of people to add information. Presntly we have
a small crew that in the last couple of monthes have put up over 1,000
cultivars but our goal is to have at least 10,000 pages up before it
appears to the world on the AIS website. Presently the beginning of the
alphabet has the most entries and medians and MDBs have the most pages
up. We need your help to give the Siberians the representation they
deserve. I invite you to visit the beginnings and see if you would like
to be a part of this monumental venture. If so send me an e-mail at
robertpries@... and let me know. but first go to this url and take
a look:
>
> http://wiki.irises.org/bin/view
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ellen Gallagher" ellengalla@...
> To: sibrob@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 1:26:58 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
Eastern
> Subject: [sibrob] test message
>
> Â
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Happy Holidays!
>
