Komunikacija / Communication
Udruženje građana / Citizens' association
YU-11090 Beograd, Pere Velimirovića 50/2 ¤ Tel.
(+381-11)-581-515 ¤ Fax (+381-11)- 316-16-55
www. komunikacija.org.yu ¤ E-mail:
abc01@komunikacija.org.yu
Project Summary
Organizing and
creating electronic editions and comprehensive presentations of theoretical journals
in the humanities, social and other sciences, in literature and the arts, as
well as people's creative expression in all spheres of everyday life.
All presentations
and all electronic editions would be available in two versions: a) in English,
and b) in Serbian, i.e. the language of the journal in the original (all
languages in the region would be treated equally, regardless of how particular
editorial boards call the language or language variant they use in their
journal: Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Slovene, Macedonian,
Albanian, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovakian, Ruthenian, etc.).
All pieces published in the electronic editions of the journals would be
part of a comprehensive database that could be searched - both in English and
in Serbian - by authors' names, titles of individual pieces, titles of special
sections within the journals, key words and all concepts contained in the
summaries in Serbian and abstracts in English, published along with the texts.
In the first
stage, by the beginning of 2001, electronic editions of five leading Yugoslav
journals in the humanities and the social sciences containing 20 issues and
over 300 individual authored pieces, published on more than 3000 pages, will be
made available at the address www.komunikacija.org.yu.
In the second
stage, by the end of 2001, electronic editions and elaborate presentations of
more than 15 journals will be made available at the same address, which means
that after one year of regular updating the database will contain over 60
volumes, with almost 1000 individual items.
In this way the entire
scientific-theoretical output of the region during a couple of years will be
presented to interested Internet users. At the same time, a comprehensive and
flexible electronic database in the social sciences and the humanities will be
established and made available to the public throughout the world.
Introduction
»Communication« non-governmental organization is a
citizens' association formed by a group of professors of the Faculty of
Philosophy, University of Belgrade, and members of several research institutes
in Belgrade.
»Communication« was formed
in order to promote communication and understanding between people and nations
through presenting and exchanging results of scientific-theoretical work,
research and creativity. The eleven founders have sought to put each segment,
each stage, and the entirety of the project »Electronic editions of leading
Yugoslav journals in the humanities and the social sciences« to the best
service of this goal.
»Communication«
members and friends have cooperated professionally for many years on various
joint projects. The association was formally founded on 26 April 2000 by: two
professors of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade - Prof.
Živan Lazović (Zemun) and Prof. Aleksandar Molnar (Beograd); one member of
the Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences in Belgrade and
professor of the University of Kragujevac - dr Zoran Ognjanović (Beograd); one
member of the Archaeological Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences in
Belgrade - dr Miomir Korać (Novi Beograd); one member of the Institute
of Social Sciences in Belgrade, Center for Political Studies and Public Opinion
Research - Srećko Mihailović (Mladenovac); six members of the Institute
for Philosophy and Social Theory - dr Dusan Bošković (Zemun), Aleksandar
Dobrijević (Zemun), Draško Grbić (Rakovica), mr Đorđe Pavićević (Beograd), mr
Michal Sládeček (Kovačica) i mr Ivana Spasić (Beograd).
·
developing electronic databases, creating
thesauruses and organizing electronic, Internet presentations of theoretical
journals - in order to promote communication between people and present results
of work, research and creativity in science, literature and the arts, as well
as general creative expression of people in all spheres of everyday life, in
play and leisure.
·
promoting communication, creating connections and mutual coordination
of interests and needs between users/readers, editorial boards and authors in
all spheres of science, literature, the arts, and everyday life, in the country
and abroad.
»Communication« members,
friends and contributors have designed and carried out in full the project of
creating the database (they have elaborated and developed program support and
organized the structure of the model) wherefrom the dynamic and complex Internet
presentation of theInstitute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade, is
generated, as may be seen at: www.instifdt.bg.ac.yu
.
Within the same unified
database, apart from the encyclopaedic presentation of the Institute (including
databases of research projects, consultation meetings, colloquia, conferences,
library, etc.), »Communication« members have also implemented the project »Electronic
edition and presentation of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory's
journal«, sponsored by the Fund for an Open Society, Belgrade.
Searchers have also been
developed, adjusted to the specific files of the electronic databases and the
requirement to recognize word roots regardless of different grammatical forms
of the relevant words and their case suffixes in Serbian, Croatian and other
languages of the region.
A special procedure for
converting documents has been established so that the texts contain the
specific letter used by the peoples of the region.
»Communication« members,
friends and contributors have begun to develop database of theoretical
journals, books and other works from which to generate their complex
presentations and electronic editions at: www.komunikacija.org.yu
Long-term objectives are the
creation of a scientific reference database that would facilitate comprehensive
searches and insight into the results of work of a numerous community of
researchers, as well as the creation of preconditions for implementation of a
series of scientific research projects, such as making thesauruses of
particular areas and sciences, or a global thesaurus of the humanities and the
social sciences.
Most briefly put, this project
concerns the organization of support and creating electronic editions and
presentations of theoretical journals (in the humanities, social sciences,
literature, arts, as well as people?s creative expression in all spheres of
everyday life). All electronic editions and all dynamic presentations would be
generated from a single unified database that could be searched both in Serbian
and in English.
Regional significance: Over the past ten years the previously existing connections and
multicultural network of cooperation between scientists and the intellectual
elites of the peoples in the Balkans have been severed. After the destruction
brought during the 1990s by wars, ethnic and confessional conflicts, in this
region characterized by a high possibility of linguistic communication and
traditional closeness of most peoples the process of »getting used« to the
presence of another language and alphabet is perhaps most easily begun by
exchanging results of scientific and theoretical work, research and creativity,
on a value-free terrain such as science and theory.
The presentation of Yugoslav
theoretical journals is part of the process of rapprochement and opening up of
the national science and theory toward the international intellectual
community, as well as a process of establishing a higher level of local and
regional communication within the elite of creative authors and intellectuals,
their interlinking and exchanging ideas and spiritual values. This would mark
the beginning of a better understanding and mutual respect between neighboring
cultures, intellectuals, scientists, theoreticians and researchers - as the
most influential segments of their respective communities. In all this we are
pursuing the common goal: to ensure a more humane atmosphere based on long-term
stable relations in these complex multi-ethnic, multi-confessional,
multi-lingual and multi-cultural milieus, as well as with the community of
peoples of the world, without exclusivism and conflicts between peoples, states
and regions.
Economic, organizational, technical, hardware and software advantages of
a unified presentation of leading Yugoslav journals in the humanities and
the social sciences are huge, not only for the journals themselves, their
publishers and editors, but also for numerous research and educational institutions,
authors and the Yugoslav science in general, as well as for all Yugoslav and
international Internet users, who would access the contents of all leading
journals in the social sciences and the humanities through a single www
address.
Published
in an electronic form, theoretical texts become a public good, in the full sense of the word, whereby the advantages of electronic
publishing are used to the maximum, ensuring the widest possible
availability of published theoretical pieces in the circumstances of declining
sales of books and journals, due to the impovershment of the population,
and of limited bookstore distribution, due to inter-state customs
obstacles and other reasons.
Unified presentation of all
relevant journals on one server, at one address, is a major saving for all
editorial boards and all journal publishers, because it is considerably more
rational and cheaper to develop only one software, adapting the shared program
basis to the specific needs of a dozen individual journals. It is also easier
to maintain one hardware than let each one of the dozen editorial boards take
care of their own server.
The planned
project is a result of several-years work of a number of
»Communication« members and friends and their training for organizational,
technical and program designingand implementing presentations and electronic
editions of journals.
»Communication« members are
ready to help editorial boards and founders of journals who decide to join the
project of shared presentation and electronic editions. In this way we would
prepare the material together with the volunteer editorial boards of the
journals, and subsequently organize and coordinate ourselves the work of
programmers,graphic designers, photographers, librarians, translators,
operators and other associated contributors and participants in the
implementation of the project.
All presentations and
electronic editions of all journals, as well as the global project of the
database in the humanities and the social sciences: a) would be based on a comprehensive database, open
to multiple searching, developed thanks to the programming and technological
experiences of »Communication« members - which would make individual tasks
simpler and considerably reduce the costs; b) could be found at one and
the same address - which would make the work of users both in the country and
abroad considerably easier; c) could be published in extenso, without
selections and cutting, and including both older editions and new ones; d)
would have two versions, in Serbian and in English - which would facilitate an
insight into the works of Yugoslav authors and complex searching through all
world browsers, as well as an opening of the Yugoslav science to the world; e)
would be elements of a unified on-line database of the humanities and the
social sciences that could possibly be established in the future; f)
could be subjected to multiple searching and could contribute to the
development of segments of a multi-lingual thesaurus of particular sciences.
The advantage of a
detailed elaboration and systematic organization of all tasks in implementing
the global project of the electronic database in the humanities and the social
sciences is in a more economical and rational implementation of the second,
third, and any further stage of implementing the Project or its segments, since
once the programs and presentation models are created they do not have to be
created anew but rather can be adapted and applied to similar parts and
inidividual projects and journals, whereby costs are reduced considerably and
the job is finished more quickly.
?Communication
has already begun the implementation of parts of the Project:a) electronic
edition of the journal ?Filozofija i drustvo" (?Philosophy and Society?),
with almost 3,000 printed pages and about 200 individual pieces published in
the 1993-2000 period; b) electronic edition of two issues
of the journal "Sociologija" (»Sociology«), with
a total of 30 individual pieces published during 2000; c) program support
for searching electronic editions of one issue, all issues of one journal,
and all journals, at the »Communication« www address.
Contacts with 15
leading Yugoslav journals have been established whose presentation and
electronic editions could be generated from the appropriate database. Each editorial
board could present their own archival database, with all data on the founding,
lists of members of editorial boards, editorial councils and committees,
contributors, as well as special issues and bibliographies. Each of the
journals would have its own space where to present its basic conception and
editorial policy as well as information on activities that are being planned
along with invitations to cooperation. Space will also be left for sponsors and
donors, information on subscription, addresses of distributors and bookstores
selling the printed journals.
Concentrated appearance and presentation of all relevant journals at one
address would help users from all over the world to access
more easily and rationally select, search and download the editions offered.
Professionally
organized databases and convincing presentations will not only enhance international
presence of scientists from this country abroad and frequency of their works
appearing on international browsers but also require an adjustment to
international standards and a commitment to competition rather than
mediocrity and xenophobia.
All presentations
and all electronic editions of journals would be parts of a comprehensive
database which could be searched by: 1) name of the author; 2) all words
from the title of the piece in Serbian i.e. the language of the original (all
languages of the region would be treated equally, regardless of how the
particular editorail boards call the language or language variant of their
journal: Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Slovene, Macedonian,
Albanian, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovakina, Ruthenian, etc.); 3) all
words from the titles of the pieces in English; 4) all keywords listed in
Serbian; 5) all keywords listed in English; 6) all words contained in the
summary or abstract in Serbian; 7) all words contained in summary or abstract
in English and other languages; 8) title or topic of particular segments in
each issue of the journal - in Serbian; 9) title or topic of particular
segments in each issue of the journal - in English; 10) title of the thematic special
section in each issue of the journal - in Serbian; 11) title of the thematic
special section in each issue of the journal - in English; 12) UDC numbers of
each individual piece.
In the first
stage, by the beginning of 2001, electronic editions of five leading Yugoslav
journals in the humanities and the social sciences containing 20 volumes and
over 300 individual pieces, published on more than 3000 pages, will be made
available at the address www.komunikacija.org.yu.
In the second
stage, by the end of 2001, electronic editions and elaborate presentations of
more than 15 journals will be made available at the same address, which means
that after one year of regular updating the database will contain over 60
volumes, with almost 1000 individual pieces.
In this way the
entire scientific production during the past several years would be made
available to the international public, above all the interested Internet users.
The chronic problems of distribution and unavailability of printed copies of
journals as well as customs and other obstacles would be overcome. The
impoverished users and scholars in this country could get for free texts
important for their professional development and improvement. Authors from this
country would get feedback information from the region and the world which
would enable a verification of their theses and arguments, while users from
abroad would be given an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the results of
theoretical work in this part of the world, thanks to selective and focused
searching by key words and concepts from abstracts translated into English.
The long-term
objective of the Project is the creation of an electronic database of the
humanities, social and other sciences which, in spite of all the linguistic
difficulties, would greatly benefit both local and international users of
results of the scientific research production in the region..
A) First stage of project realization (January 2000-March 2001):
1)
Presentation and electronic
edition of 16 issues of »Filozofija i drustvo«, journal of the Institute for
Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade;
2)
Internet presentations and
electronic editions of four more leading Yugoslav journals, 2-3 issues each -
by the beginning of 2001;
3)
Linking the addresses of all
existing Internet presentations of Yugoslav scientific-theoretical journals;
4)
Organizing the creation of
Internet presentations of all interested Yugoslav educational and research
institutions after the model of the presentation of the Institute for
Philosophy and Social Theory, www.instifdt.bg.ac.yu;
5)
Initial formation of the global
electronic database of Yugoslav journals in the humanities and the social
sciences.
1)
Electronic editions of two new
(2001) issues of each of the five journals presented in the first stage;
2)
Organizing Internet
presentations and electronic editions of 5 more journals in the humanities and
the social sciences;
3)
Publishing electronic editions
of all the remaining, previously printed volumes of 10 journals - if saved in
electronic form;
4)
Organizing Internet
presentations for all interested Yugoslav educational and research institutions
after the model of the presentations: www.instifdt.bg.ac.yuand
others.
5)
Issuing an invitation to
leading humanities and social science journals of the region to joint the
realization of the Project;
6)
Complementing and further
development of the global electronic database of Yugoslav journals in the
humanities and the social sciences, literature and the arts.
1)
Publishing electronic editions
of all 2002 issues of all interested Yugoslav journals in the humanities and
the social sciences.
2)
Publishing electronic editions
of all issues saved in electronic form of all Yugoslav journals in the
humanities and the social sciences.
3)
Complementing and developing of
the global electronic database of Yugoslav journals in the humanities and the
social sciences, literature and the arts.
4)
Organizing Internet
presentation and creation of database for all interested Yugoslav educational
and research institutions after the model of the presentations: www.instifdt.bg.ac.yuand others.
5)
Organizing the material of
leading journals in the humanities and the social sciences of the region in
order to initiate a new stage of project realization.
The Project will be realized
mainly by »Communication« members and friends. The project will be realized in
accordance with the models of presentations and electronic editions of research
institutions and journals developed so far. The possibility of using, adapting
and applying the developed program support will make the time necessary for the
realization of the Project shorter.
»Communication« members will
establish individual files, install specific searchers, feed in data for two
issues of each of the journals, determine the procedure and instruct all
interested institutions and editorial boards on how to update the databases.
All organizational tasks and
all forms of presentation of individual files the »Communication« members will
accomplish in cooperation with and upon consent of the authorized
representatives of research institutions, publishing houses and journals.
All parts of individual
presentations and electronic editions will be generated from the organized
database obtained exclusively from institutes, journals or their contributors
and authors.
All databases will be developed
using Zope program in Linux environment.
The »Communication« development
team consisting of: dr Dusan Bosković, dr Zoran Ognjanović, dr Miomir Korać, mr
Ivana Spasić and Drasko Grbić will engage prominent experts as associates for
carrying out particular segments of project realization. For special tasks of
programming and adapting program installation, for instance, the programmer
Vladimir Petrović from Belgrade (working in Athens, Greece) will be engaged,
teachers of the Faculty for Applied Art for designer tasks, photography will be
entrusted to the »Cvetni trg« Photo Studio, etc.
It is our plan to install
mirror presentations on servers in the USA and in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
in order to ensure easier accessibility to foreign users.
The planned size of the
database require the following supplies: 1) a reliable, fast and more powerful
server; 2) muliport-card and the appropriate number of modems; 3) appropriate
number of phone lines (according to the number of editorial boards wishing to
update the databases on their own); 4) a CD-writer; 5) a UPS-engine; 6) a
scanner; 7) a digital camera; 8) a network printer, etc.
Program
possibilities of organized files and the comprehensive database allow for a
permanent improvement of the presentations (both in visual terms and in
interconnecting particular files and their parts), as well as complementing,
simplifying, editing and modifying data previously fed into the database.
Particular presentations and
files of individual journals and their role within the structure of the model
of the presentation and the database of scientific-theoretical journals will be
assessed and verified by each of the editorial boards or publishing houses and
research institutions, as well as by users of electronic editions of their
journals.
Organization
and degree of elaboration of each file and presentation as a whole will be
verified by successful use and efficiency of the searcher of particular files
and the global searcher of the entire database.
After each stage of project
realization we expect the professional public and the editorial boards of the
journals involved to review the jobs completed. All these reviews will be
available to users and visitors of »Communication« presentation. All
verifications, criticisms and reviews will be available to donors.
Major
changes in the Project are neither expected nor desirable because they would be
feasible only partially and following systematic testing and arduous
reprogramming.