About the Compendium
The compendium is a curated collection of my photography: mostly living things, plus the occasional place worth remembering. It's meant to be browsed like an exhibition, not audited like a checklist.
Identifications
Organisms are identified to the most specific level I can stand behind. Where possible, the photo is also posted toiNaturalist, where other naturalists can review the identification.
- iNaturalist is the evidence; the compendium is the claim.Community consensus informs each entry but never overwrites it automatically. Changes are reviewed before they appear here.
- Disagreement means less specificity, not a guess.When identifiers disagree, the entry is recorded at the level they share: Quercus sp. rather than a coin flip between two oaks.
- Unconfirmed isn't excluded.Photos without a community-confirmed ID still appear, labeled as unconfirmed. Difficult subjects shouldn't disappear for being difficult.
- Dissent is noted.If I disagree with the community, my identification stands and the entry says why.
- Cultivated plants stop at species.Garden cultivars and topiary are recorded as their species, with the cultivar in the notes.
Why not just iNaturalist?
If the goal were a verified species list, iNaturalist already does that better. It's a scientific record: every observation counts equally, photos exist to support an identification, and only living things qualify. The compendium is the other half.
- Curation.Every photo is ranked by tier. iNaturalist has no notion of a good photo.
- Photography.Full-resolution images with camera and lens details. The photo is the point, not the proof.
- More than organisms.Places, several subjects in one frame, and the notes behind a shot.
- Different ways to browse.By quality, by date, and eventually by where each subject sits on the tree of life, including how it relates to everything else in the collection.
iNaturalist verifies. The compendium exhibits.