Thoughts on Online Identification Keys

Comments by David Wahl of Utah State University on the Genera Ichneumonorum Nearcticae (GIN) key and on keys in general (from http://www.amentinst.org/Subfamily_Key.php):

Two considerations have informed the GIN key. I'm not in favor of worldwide keys to subfamilies. A worldwide key must ignore regional specialties to a certain degree, otherwise the resulting product will be so complex as to be unworkable. Hence, the key is for only North and Central America. Secondly, the key is not interactive. I've tried various programs and have not been impressed:

-- Some have problems with version compatibilities.

-- To the best of my knowledge, they do not allow printouts of the text portions.

-- The embedded illustrations pop up one at a time, and do not allow side-by-side comparisons of character states.

Keys are heuristic devices that allow one to discriminate various taxa. After a certain point, the key and relevant characters should be internalized so that the text need be only occasionally consulted, and it seems to me that long interactive keys work against this. Printed text is not available to place on one side of the microscope and so the user is confined to the computer screen, slowly grinding through pop-up illustrations while juggling specimens. The process seems designed to keep the user dependent upon the interactive key, or at least to make the weaning period very long indeed. The approach taken here is to separate text and figures, making them available as downloadable PDF files from the GIN site. The text files are to be printed out, while the figures (arranged in plates of six) are meant to be viewed on a laptop or tablet. As the user gains familiarity with the key, reliance upon illustrations should lessen and the text is used as an aide to memory.