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</div> </a> <ul id="toc-Wikispecies_–_what_and_why?-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Vision" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Vision"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Vision</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Vision-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-How_can_I_contribute_to_Wikispecies?" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#How_can_I_contribute_to_Wikispecies?"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>How can I contribute to Wikispecies?</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-How_can_I_contribute_to_Wikispecies?-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> 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class="firstHeading mw-first-heading">Wikispecies:About</h1> <div class="mw-indicators"> <div id="mw-indicator-shortcut" class="mw-indicator"><div class="mw-parser-output"><code><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q620197" class="extiw" title="d:Q620197">Shortcuts</a>: WS:A, WS:About</code></div></div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-project" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/en-gb" title="View the project page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Project page</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="new vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikispecies_talk:About/en-gb&action=edit&redlink=1" rel="discussion" 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changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikispecies:About/en-gb&oldid=9242869" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikispecies:About/en-gb&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fspecies.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikispecies%3AAbout%2Fen-gb"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fspecies.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikispecies%3AAbout%2Fen-gb"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-create_a_book" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book_creator&referer=Wikispecies%3AAbout%2Fen-gb"><span>Create a book</span></a></li><li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Wikispecies%3AAbout%2Fen-gb&action=show-download-screen"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikispecies:About/en-gb&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikispecies</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-pt-translate-header noprint" dir="ltr" lang="en">This page is a <span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://species.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Translate&group=page-Wikispecies%3AAbout&action=page&filter=&language=en-gb">translated version</a></span> of the page <a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About" title="Wikispecies:About">Wikispecies:About</a> and the translation is 92% complete.</div><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en-GB" dir="ltr"><div class="mw-pt-languages noprint navigation-not-searchable" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="mw-pt-languages-label">Other languages:</div><ul class="mw-pt-languages-list"><li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/af" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Wikispecies:Aangaande (100% translated)" lang="af" dir="ltr">Afrikaans</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/ms" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispesies:Perihal hu (42% translated)" lang="ms" dir="ltr">Bahasa Melayu</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/ban" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispésiés :Indik (42% translated)" lang="ban" dir="ltr">Basa Bali</a></li> <li><span class="mw-pt-languages-selected mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--high" lang="en-GB" dir="ltr">British English</span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/cy" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title=" Wicirhywogaeth:Crynodeb (58% translated)" lang="cy" dir="ltr">Cymraeg</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/de" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Wikispecies:Allgemeine Informationen (100% translated)" lang="de" dir="ltr">Deutsch</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About" class="mw-pt-languages-ui mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Wikispecies:About (100% translated)" lang="en" dir="ltr">English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/eo" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--low" title="Wikispecies:About/eo (8% translated)" lang="eo" dir="ltr">Esperanto</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/nl" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:Over (58% translated)" lang="nl" dir="ltr">Nederlands</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/vi" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:Giới thiệu (67% translated)" lang="vi" dir="ltr">Tiếng Việt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/tr" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Vikitür:Hakkında (50% translated)" lang="tr" dir="ltr">Türkçe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/ca" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:Quant a la Wikispecies (58% translated)" lang="ca" dir="ltr">català</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/da" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:Om (33% translated)" lang="da" dir="ltr">dansk</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/es" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Wikispecies:Acerca de (100% translated)" lang="es" dir="ltr">español</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/fr" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Wikispecies: A propos de (100% translated)" lang="fr" dir="ltr">français</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/gl" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--high" title="Wikispecies:Sobreㅣ (92% translated)" lang="gl" dir="ltr">galego</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/it" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:Su Wikispecies (17% translated)" lang="it" dir="ltr">italiano</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/hu" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Wikifajok:Rólunk (100% translated)" lang="hu" dir="ltr">magyar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/uz" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Vikitur:haqida (50% translated)" lang="uz" dir="ltr">oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/pl" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--high" title="Wikispecies:O Wikispecies (75% translated)" lang="pl" dir="ltr">polski</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/pt" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:A respeito de (33% translated)" lang="pt" dir="ltr">português</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/pt-br" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Wikispecies:Sobre (100% translated)" lang="pt-BR" dir="ltr">português do Brasil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/fi" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:Tietoja (58% translated)" lang="fi" dir="ltr">suomi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/sv" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--high" title="Wikispecies:Om (75% translated)" lang="sv" dir="ltr">svenska</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/cs" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikidruhy:O projektu (67% translated)" lang="cs" dir="ltr">čeština</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/el" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Βικιείδη:Σχετικά (33% translated)" lang="el" dir="ltr">Ελληνικά</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/ru" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="О Вививидах (58% translated)" lang="ru" dir="ltr">русский</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/uk" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Віківиди:Про (100% translated)" lang="uk" dir="ltr">українська</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/he" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="ויקימינים:אודות (58% translated)" lang="he" dir="rtl">עברית</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/sd" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="ویڪی اسپیشیز: بابت (100% translated)" lang="sd" dir="rtl">سنڌي</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/fa" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="ویکی‌گونه:درباره (42% translated)" lang="fa" dir="rtl">فارسی</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/ne" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--low" title="विकिप्रजाति:बारेमा (8% translated)" lang="ne" dir="ltr">नेपाली</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/mr" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="विकिस्पीशीज् बद्दल (100% translated)" lang="mr" dir="ltr">मराठी</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/mai" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="विकिप्रजाति:बारेम (17% translated)" lang="mai" dir="ltr">मैथिली</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/hi" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:About/hi (50% translated)" lang="hi" dir="ltr">हिन्दी</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/bn" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--high" title="উইকিপ্রজাতি:সম্পর্কে (75% translated)" lang="bn" dir="ltr">বাংলা</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/pa" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="ਵਿਕੀਜਾਤੀਆਂ:ਬਾਰੇ (50% translated)" lang="pa" dir="ltr">ਪੰਜਾਬੀ</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/gu" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="વિકિજાતિ:વિશે (33% translated)" lang="gu" dir="ltr">ગુજરાતી</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/kn" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="ವಿಕಿಸ್ಪೀಸೀಸ್ಃ ಬಗ್ಗೆ (33% translated)" lang="kn" dir="ltr">ಕನ್ನಡ</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/ml" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:About/ml (17% translated)" lang="ml" dir="ltr">മലയാളം</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/si" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="ජීවවිශේෂවිකි:පිළිබද (42% translated)" lang="si" dir="ltr">සිංහල</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/th" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="วิกิสปีชีส์:เกี่ยวกับ (58% translated)" lang="th" dir="ltr">ไทย</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/blk" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="ဝီခီသꩻခွိုꩻ:အကျောင်ꩻ (42% translated)" lang="blk" dir="ltr">ပအိုဝ်ႏဘာႏသာႏ</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/mnw" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="ဝဳကဳသတ်ဇဳဝ - gပရူ (50% translated)" lang="mnw" dir="ltr">ဘာသာမန်</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/my" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="ဝီကီမျိုးစိတ်:အကြောင်း (42% translated)" lang="my" dir="ltr">မြန်မာဘာသာ</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/zh" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="維基物種:關於 (100% translated)" lang="zh" dir="ltr">中文</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/ja" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Wikispecies:ウィキスピーシーズについて (100% translated)" lang="ja" dir="ltr">日本語</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/nan" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Wikispecies:Iú-kuan (17% translated)" lang="nan" dir="ltr">閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gú</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikispecies:About/ko" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="위키생물종:소개 (100% translated)" lang="ko" dir="ltr">한국어</a></li></ul></div> <p><span></span> </p> <dl><dd><i>See also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikispecies" class="extiw" title="en:Wikispecies">Wikispecies</a> on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/" class="extiw" title="w:">Wikipedia</a></i></dd></dl> <p><span id="Motivation"></span> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Wikispecies_–_what_and_why?" data-mw-thread-id="h-Wikispecies_–_what_and_why?"><span id="Wikispecies_.E2.80.93_what_and_why.3F"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Wikispecies_–_what_and_why?"></span>Wikispecies – what and why?<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Wikispecies_–_what_and_why?"></span></h2></div> <p>Biologists who classify new species normally publish in specialised journals, which has led to an overwhelming amount of information with nobody keeping an overview. Even experts in very specialised fields often do not notice if a species has been formally recorded twice, three times, or even more often. </p><p>Therefore, it is not known how many species are known; and this is just as ridiculous as it sounds. We are not talking about all species that <b>exist</b> on earth; but simply the total number of species that have already been <b>recorded</b> in scientific publications. </p><p>Nobody knows how many there are. Expert 'A' might think that there are 17 000 annelids known, but expert 'B' believes to know about 20 000. This is because there is no central registration process, and no database or reference directory to browse information about the current state of knowledge on a particular species. This situation can be summarised with the statement: <b>A central, extensive database for taxonomy is urgently needed</b>. </p> <div lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr"> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Vision" data-mw-thread-id="h-Vision"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Vision"></span>Vision<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Vision"></span></h2></div> </div> <p>And this is what Wikispecies should become: an open, extensive database for scientists and non-scientists to reflect the diversity of life on our planet Earth. Because life is public domain! </p><p>There are an increasing number of big, science funded projects, all of which aim to achieve more or less the same thing. Examples include Catalogue of Life, Encyclopaedia of Life, etc., etc. The main problem with most of these projects is that they are not open to editing, and so the inevitable many errors are 'locked in' and difficult to fix… </p><p><span id="Collaboration"></span> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="How_can_I_contribute_to_Wikispecies?" data-mw-thread-id="h-How_can_I_contribute_to_Wikispecies?"><span id="How_can_I_contribute_to_Wikispecies.3F"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-How_can_I_contribute_to_Wikispecies?"></span>How can I contribute to Wikispecies?<span data-mw-comment-end="h-How_can_I_contribute_to_Wikispecies?"></span></h2></div> <p>If you want to add contents to Wikispecies, but do not know how, have a look at our <a href="/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Contents" title="Special:MyLanguage/Help:Contents">Help:Contents</a> section where we explain how simple it is to add data to Wikispecies. </p><p>Questions about our policy regarding Wikispecies? See the <a href="/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikispecies:Charter" title="Special:MyLanguage/Wikispecies:Charter">Wikispecies:Charter</a> which explains a bit more what this is about. </p>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1&useformat=desktop" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://species.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikispecies:About/en-gb&oldid=9242869">https://species.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikispecies:About/en-gb&oldid=9242869</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Category</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikispecies/en-gb" title="Category:Wikispecies/en-gb">Wikispecies/en-gb</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 11 June 2023, at 21:29.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License</a>; additional terms may apply. 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