Editing Development roadmap (section)

= Development Roadmap for the Mycomap.org Wiki =

== Overview ==
This page outlines the goals and philosophical direction for the ongoing development of a dynamic, wiki-style platform for documenting fungal biodiversity. The project aims to document what is known about each fungal taxon whether undescribed or described, creating a collaborative, data-integrated, and evidence-based system for fungal taxonomy.

The idea for this wiki emerged from a [https://www.facebook.com/groups/FungalSequencingResults/posts/2744146379307305 discussion on Facebook], and the thoughts below have been distilled from comments made by the participants. Their comments have been grouped into themes to guide ongoing development.

== Project Goals ==

=== A Dynamic, Crowd-Sourced Species Platform ===
* '''Stephen Russell''' proposed creating a wiki-style platform inspired by sites like [https://www.mycoquebec.org MycoQuebec], [https://hebeloma.org Hebeloma.org], and [https://www.mushroomexpert.com MushroomExpert.com]. Unlike existing platforms, this new system will aggregate species data from multiple sources, integrating sequence data and observational data to create composite species profiles.

=== Data Integrity and Annotation Philosophy ===
* '''Stephen Russell''' argued that species descriptions should be anchored in sequenced collections. Any features not tied to sequenced specimens should be explicitly marked as speculative. ''"Without a sequenced specimen, it's a rumor."''
* '''Jacob Pulk''' responded with a counterpoint, noting that even features from sequenced specimens can be misinterpreted and that useful insights can be derived from well-documented but unsequenced observations. He advocated for transparent speculation, which he sees as a productive step toward hypothesis building.

== Core Development Principles ==

=== Evidence-Based Descriptions ===
Species pages will evolve only when supported by sufficient, repeatable, sequenced observations. This avoids perpetuating speculation-based taxonomy.

* '''Stephen Russell''' stated the importance of waiting for a critical mass of sequenced observations before finalizing species descriptions.
* '''Jacob Pulk''' highlighted how this approach balances data integrity with flexible hypothesis generation.

=== Annotation and Transparency ===
Speculative content will be allowed but clearly labeled. This encourages participation while maintaining scientific rigor.

=== Integration, Not Duplication ===
* '''Stephen Russell''' explained that the project will build on, rather than replicate, platforms like iNaturalist and Mushroom Observer by aggregating and annotating data.
* '''David McCheyne''' questioned how this approach differs from existing systems. Stephen replied that current platforms lack validated species descriptions and data integration across systems.

== Technical and Philosophical Roadmap ==

=== Minimize Human Labor in Data Entry ===
* '''Stephen Russell''' emphasized automation as a key to scalability: ''“The more humans have to do, the less scalable and less sustainable the project is.”''
* '''Alan Rockefeller''' created [[User:Taxonomybot]], a Pywikibot that edits articles.   Currently it makes sure each article has a ''References'' section which links to all sequenced observations of each taxon / provisional species name.

=== Crowdsourced AI Training ===
* '''Stephen Russell''' proposed developing a "FungiAI" to automate tasks like:
** Detecting fungi in photos.
** Cropping images for training sets.
** Writing draft species descriptions from annotated images.
** Assisting in identification.
* The training and validation sets would be crowd-sourced, benefiting the global mycological community.

=== ITS Stability and Biogeographic Patterns ===
* '''Myco Geeky''' noted that platforms like this could help track population-level stability in the ITS region over time. This may reveal:
** Cryptic speciation.
** Substrate-linked divergence.
** Sequence variation correlated with ecological or morphological shifts.

=== Interoperability with Other Platforms ===
The wiki could connect to other databases (e.g., iNaturalist, GenBank, MycoPortal) and serve as a central hub for species-level synthesis, rather than a competing system.

=== Long-Term Vision ===
Species pages could serve as living records that organically grow into formal, peer-reviewed descriptions over time. Authorship and contribution credit will be transparently documented.

== Community Involvement ==

Multiple contributors have offered to help in different ways:
* '''Alan Rockefeller''' - Sysadmin and developer 
* '''Michael DeLola''' - Developer
* '''Adam Boring''' – Interested in learning Wikimedia and working with temp codes and sequence data.
* '''Andy Donegan''' – Offers knowledge on microfungi and general support.
* '''Nicolas Schwab''' – Started a similar project and is interested in collaborating.
* '''Jacob Pulk''', '''David McCheyne''', and others – Provided essential philosophical dialogue shaping the project’s core tenets.

== Project Status ==
Development is currently underway, with '''Stephen Russell''', '''Alan Rockefeller''', and '''Michael DeLola''' working on early technical foundations.

== Get Involved ==
If you're interested in contributing to the development, annotation, or data integration process, reach out - or just start creating pages for provisional species names or scientific names and adding information.