Date: 1/26/2010
The Iris register has been a workhorse for a tiny group of people in the Iris society and it will continue to be so. I have spoken with many Iris Register users and they see no threat from the wiki in replacing the Iris Register. For the uses that the Iris Register has traditionally provided, the wiki will provide too much information, and would not be as fast. John should see no threat to the relatively few people using the Iris register of abandoning it.
To believe that the other 90% of the irisregister users are going to continue to pay for something they will be able to get for free on the wiki is absurd,
The real decision here is whether risk the potential loss of irisregister revenue against the potential problem of the wiki not being successfull. Bob seems to feel that without the registration information the wiki might fail to save AIS.
The problem is that despite all the hyperbole no one knows one way or the other what the full effect will be on either of the projects.
John
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All,
I agree with Bob on this. I use the Iris Register constantly as I write articles, columns and obituaries for AIS and Sections and Affiliates. That won't change because of the wiki. It's fast. The Iris Register has at least one feature that I'm not sure the wiki will provide -- that is the ability to do hybridizer search and summaries. It is however quirky in that sometimes a hybridizer registered under different names such as Jim or James or J., and therefore you must search each to ensure you have all data. And I still use the printed checklists as they are more portable and useful at Shows and throughout my home (I don't yet have a laptop).
I have judged a show at the Society for Louisiana Irises Convention at which we used a laptop loaded with both the Iris Register and SLI Checklist and it was an interesting experience, generally helpful -- but we still had need to reference the AIS Checklist books as neither of the databases were complete and up-to-date. I can see this process expanding in the future with comparison of picture and text to show exhibit, but keeping in mind that some if not many pictures have been enhanced (Photo Shop). Judges beware!
Jim M.