Name of the Game

For the average reader, details like hyphens may seem irrelevant to the content and overall message. But those in the taxonomy field understand all too well how important details can be in classifying data and retrieving it easily. Making content findable is the name of the game. This interesting information came from jboyd.net the post, “Aves—A Taxonomy in Flux.”

The author talks about stylistic considerations, which in some circles is like talking about politics. No one will ever agree on one method. For example, gray vs. grey or hyphens to break up words for scanning efficiency. We just have to accept the fact that they will not always look the same, but they will be pronounced the same.

The International Ornithological Congress (IOC) maintains the IOC World Bird List and they are a good example of having accommodations for the English names of birds. This approach extends beyond the world of birds.

Melody K. Smith

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Melody Smith

Melody K. Smith has provided organizational, social media and digital communication services to a large non-profit for the past twenty years. Prior to that she championed employee engagement and communications in the healthcare field. She holds a Bachelors degree in Marketing. When not wrangling and writing TaxoDiary content for your reading pleasure, Melody writes fiction, rescues dogs and throws legendary dinner parties.