Call for Ideas: Help name the new online platform for the plant science community

weloveplantsOver the past 24 months, we have been working diligently to develop a new community platform for the global plant science community.  This new platform, which we have given the working title of “the Plant Science Exchange” (PSX) will launch this summer.

All plant science students and professionals are invited to join.

The initial level of community membership will be open and free of charge; additional levels of benefits and engagement will be available for a fee. This new model for community engagement and participation is built on a foundation of people, organizations, groups, content, networking, and research resources designed to provide value to plant scientists, students, educators, and individuals in adjoining disciplines.

In a nutshell, this new platform will provide:

  • A centralized place where plant science students, professionals, content, tools, resources, apps, and organizations can come together to actively and deliberately connect around topics, interests and research areas.
  • A secure home for plant scientists – individually and in groups — to gather, share, communicate, and participate where otherwise they would not have a platform to do so and without unsolicited interference from advertisers or other third parties.
  • An online home for any plant science organization that wishes to have an online presence, to store or share documents, to collaborate, communicate and thrive.
  • The most comprehensive directory of plant science professionals available.
  • A platform that galvanizes the global plant science community and provides the opportunity to have a strong, united presence and voice.
  • A platform for crowdsourced ideas, content, tools and other resources from the community – for the community.
  • A place where we develop and deploy new products and services on an ongoing basis to meet the needs of the community – based on input from the community.

Now the fun part – we need a name!

Until now, we have been using PSX as a placeholder name. Although we like that name, we would like community engagement to begin right now – so we are reaching out to you for your ideas.

What would you call the online community that you turn to first and most frequently for all your professional needs?
Using the comments area below, please submit your suggestions – but please keep the following points in mind:

  1. Relevance to the plant science community: we should not have to explain why the name fits
  2. Appropriateness: watch for unintended spelling issues and the juxtaposition of words in an accompanying URL
  3. Availability and distinctness: we don’t want to be mistaken for something else that is common to the general public

All submissions will be reviewed, and the top five suggestions will be put to the community for a vote.  Please note that suggestions may be altered or combined to come up with the top five.

Please submit your suggestion by commenting on this post no later than March 5th.

Let us know if you have questions or suggestions.

37 thoughts on “Call for Ideas: Help name the new online platform for the plant science community”

  1. Still it is not clear to me if this site will replace the already existing http://www.aspb.org if that is the case why we can not keep the “Plant Biology Society”? If that is not the case then I my suggestion will be “Plant Biology Society Online Exchange” (PBSOE)

    A comment/question I have though is if there is any plan to have the abstracts submitted by participants to every annual meeting and/ or regional meeting in one place and have them searchable? Right now there is a different site for every annual meeting and every time there a different mechanism for registration and abstract submission. When and if there one central site for that I think it will be more convenient for people to register. On the same time all abstracts for all years will be searchable since they will be held in one place.

    Reply
    • Hi Christos – This platform is more about the global plant science community and less about ASPB as an organization. Although we will be providing a lot of content, tools, templates and resources – we expect other organizations and community members to do so as well. The ASPB website will be a separate site, with links to the new platform, and vice-versa. Does that make sense?

      To respond to your other comment/question – we plan to gather and catalog all meeting related content over time, but we have to get the platform up and running first. Thanks for your input!

      Reply
  2. Or perhaps a modification to keep the same acronym but bring in the idea that the exchange is a platform for uniting plant biologists or a “growing platform for uniting botanists”

    Reply
  3. Am I still on time? What about “SAP”? Sap flows inside plants transporting nutrients… it could be a metaphore of the information in the new plant community. It could stand for Science About Plants or similar.

    Reply
  4. My suggestion: Plant Kaleidoscope

    “A centralized place where plant science students, professionals, content, tools, resources, apps, and organizations can come together to actively and deliberately connect around topics, interests and research areas.”

    I applaud the initiative, but I am skeptical that the real issues are going to be discussed in the detail that is required. I am of the opinion that there are serious problems with the plant science literature, with the current system in place to vet and use “peers”, the lack of editorial responsibility when it comes to the already published literature, and the existence of a very powerful minority that does not consider the voices of the vast majority. I hope that the future platform, independent of its name, will allow me and others to voice, openly and freely, our opinions, with justifications, about why plant science and plant science publishing are at serious risk. And while I can appreciate the fun that all are having in coming up with a name for this new platform, I hope that it is not a mere distraction about the real issues and challenges that plant science faces. I leave a list of a few references where I am starting to document my concerns. I hope that my voice may be heard so that we may begin to deal with these real issues.

    To me, whether the new portal is called “Mashed potatoes”, or “Plant Kaleidoscope” is irrelevant…

    Reply
  5. Plant Kaleidoscope
    Plant Horizons
    Plant Vision
    Plant Empowerment
    Fortuna Plantarum
    Plants par Excellence
    and many more possibilities…

    Reply

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