Many large plants and animals have names, including most mammals, birds and trees but the smaller the organisms the fewer have names. In the same vein, there is no single list of all the names for everything in the world. With the advent of global electronic communication some projects have begun compile all the disparate naming data. One such project is called Species 2000 and is an attempt to put together a list of names and a single, complete generally agreed upon taxonomic hierarchy. The Australian perspective Australian museums and herbaria have generally em-braced computerised documentation of specimens.
Many institutions also use one particular commercially available Australian database program.
This program allows users to develop their own database, including assigning their own fields. It is interesting that even with this flexibility the documentation systems developed tend to show many similarities. However, independently developed systems are never identical. Some institutions are now tackling the challenge of standardising documentation formats amongst natural sciences databases. Australian herbaria are the most advanced in the development of cross-institutional standards.