Earwigs-online: Vor- und Nachteile einer selbst entwickelten Internetdatenbank.

Abstract

The website www.earwigs-online.de is dedicated exclusively to the Dermaptera (earwigs) and is based on a series of databases developed during the last ten years. The programming and integration of the databases proceeded together with the developing knowledge and requirements of the sole user, namely the author. Important incorporated features are an automatic facility for selecting key words and a digital library with 1,000 abstracts and articles. At present the databases contain approximately 16,000 entries on distribution, 4,000 literature citations, 7,200 key words and 5,000 names of taxa. As work proceeded, a number of advantages and disadvantages became clear. Disadvantages in a single project are the burdens of programming, safeguarding data and providing a link with the internet, together with small or absent financial support by sponsors and employers, as well as the non-availability of the data in larger portals. It proved advantageous to have the data constantly available, and to be able to publish these quickly in a freely combined form. The most important advantage is certainly the very existence of this database. Earwigs are not the focus of interest in zoology, medicine or agriculture. It is therefore unlikely that larger projects and institutions would have created these databases. A wealth of data would have remained unavailable.

Keywords

Dermaptera, Ohrwurm, Datenbank, Earwigs-online, Internetdatenbank, Digitale Bibliothek.