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HBW alive (5 Viewers)

Most recently updated species log

Richard Klim said:
Something strange has happened to the most recently updated species log today – it seems to be in a rather random non-chronological order. Hopefully a temporary aberration.
PS. Seems to be back in chronological order now, but with all update times rounded to midnight...
Click to expand...
Still struggling to understand how the update log works(?)...

Essentially it appears to list all species account updates within the last two months. But until a few days ago the log comprised 40+ pages @50 updates/page = 2,000+ updates. Today, it still seems to list species account updates dating back to two months ago, but suddenly now has only 12+ pages = 600+ updates, suggesting that ~1,400 recent account updates have been withdrawn! eg, Eurasian Hobby was listed as newly updated a few days ago, but it's been removed from the latest updates log and the species account now shows the date of last update as March 2013.

As I suggested in an earlier post, by far the most frustrating aspect of HBW Alive for me is the lack of visibility of important updates to the species accounts (many updates merely reflect the ongoing task of inserting hyperlinks to existing IBC multimedia or update of Red List status – certainly a worthwhile enhancement, but not worth a specific visit to the updated account). The erratic behaviour of the update log makes it even more difficult to monitor the site for potentially useful updates. Despite the good work being devoted to the improvement of some species accounts, it seems that Lynx is relying on subscribers stumbling upon them by chance.
 
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Well, i think it will still take some months until the 15 new Amazonian species will be added. / I still have to wait on my HBW copy. I hope it will arrive this week.
 
For those of us with a fascination with phylogeny etc. How brilliant it is to be able to use the plates to bring together genera not yet accepted generally as relatives. Using HBW alive, Ctrl+Alt+Prt Sc, and "Paint" (and John Boyd's TiF Cardinal tree) I've cobbled together the Cardinalidae with the relevant bits of the Parulids, Tanagers and Emberizids.
What a joy to finally see ALL the Cardinalids together :t:
 
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My first impressions of HBW Alive are very positive. I recognise that with any major undertaking such as this there will obviously be teething problems and for a time the project has to be regarded as a work in progress in which feedback from subscribers will be vital to it's successful development.

:t:
 
There is a new article in HBW alive about the treatment of new bird taxa:

Recently described species and subspecies

The following table shows all bird species and subspecies known to us that have been described since the publication, in June 2013, of the final volume of the Handbook of the Birds of the World. It also includes the 15 new species, all of them from the Amazonia, that were first described in the said volume. A short account is given of the discovery of each species or subspecies, together with links to the original scientific descriptions and to pictures, where available.

The validity of all these new taxa is presently under review within the framework of the forthcoming HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, to which all HBW Alive treatments of taxonomy and classification will be permanently linked. All these new forms will receive full treatment in HBW Alive, either as species or as subspecies, following the publication of the checklist, which is planned for early 2014.
Click to expand...
 
Is it just me that is enjoying the HBW Alive search tool? For example, searching for 'quail-plover' comes up with 'Did you mean tail-peckover'? No, I didn't .... It did also provide lark buttonquail, correctly, as a search result. The search results themselves are generally fine (although clicking on 'tail-peckover' produces no search result, unsurprisingly), but this 'did you mean' section seems to come from way out in left field.

Keith
 
aegithalos said:
Is it just me that is enjoying the HBW Alive search tool? For example, searching for 'quail-plover' comes up with 'Did you mean tail-peckover'? No, I didn't .... It did also provide lark buttonquail, correctly, as a search result. The search results themselves are generally fine (although clicking on 'tail-peckover' produces no search result, unsurprisingly), but this 'did you mean' section seems to come from way out in left field.

Keith
Click to expand...

Search seems to have changed (since yesterday). There is no longer a 'did you mean' section. Subjectively, I think the results are better - the right species comes up top of the list more often, even with input of part of the name, or a name from the synonyms. A direct comparison obviously not possible.

Keith
 
HBW Alive - Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive
Internet version of their 17 Volume "Encyclopaedia"

about €30 per year plus a one off first year €20 registration fee

Looks good, but would be interested to be updated on what the general user opinion is before I take the plunge
 
BillN said:
Thanks Stonechat - I'll give it a go!
Click to expand...

just signed up

It is an very interesting project with a wealth of information

It will take me some time to figure out the UI search functions

I suppose it is good value for money as it will save carrying books around when I go abroad.
It is a pity that there is a two tier membership as they use the images, vids and sounds which are posted freely on their "sister" site as part of their reference procedures.
 
Species update log

Richard Klim said:
As I suggested in an earlier post, by far the most frustrating aspect of HBW Alive for me is the lack of visibility of important updates to the species accounts (many updates merely reflect the ongoing task of inserting hyperlinks to existing IBC multimedia or update of Red List status – certainly a worthwhile enhancement, but not worth a specific visit to the updated account).
Click to expand...
A very welcome development is the provision of two separate species update logs:
  1. Recently updated species – whose texts have been thoroughly updated, making use of as much relevant information as possible from the available literature.

  2. Other recently modified species – not yet fully updated but whose texts have been already modified to a certain extent and/or have been linked to multimedia resources such as photographs, videos or sound recordings.
 
I've just renewed my subscription until 2016. I am curious when the data of the upcoming HBW/BirdLife checklist will be add.
 
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