Encyclopaedistics

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Encyclopaedistics or encyclopaedics as a discipline, is the academic scholarship of encyclopedias as sources of encyclopedic knowledge and cultural objects as well; in this sense, this discipline is also known as "encyclopaedia studies" and can be termed as "theoretical encyclopaediography" by analogy with theoretical lexicography. Encyclopaedistics as a practical activity (profession or business) also called "encyclopaedic practice" or "encyclopedism" is the process of assembling encyclopaedias available to the public for sale or for free (encyclopaedia publishing or practical encyclopediography). In this sense, it is the art or craft of writing, compiling, and editing the paper or online encyclopedias. As a practical activity, encyclopaedistics originated in the Middle Ages in connection with the development of compendiums based on alphabetical structuring (e.g. first edition of Polyanthea by Dominicus Nanus Mirabellius). Encyclopaedistics is often defined as "the art and science of selecting and disseminating the information most significant to mankind". [1]

Contents

Field of study

Encyclopaedistics is a specialized aspect of information science and communication science. [2] At the same time, encyclopaedistics is also considered as one of scholarly disciplines which are seen as auxiliary for historical research (auxiliary sciences of history) . [3] Third, encyclopaedics is a domain of philosophy (Romanticism). This term associated with German philosophers of the 18th century, such as Novalis, Friedrich Schlegel, who sought to create a "Scientific Bible" - both real and ideal book as the quintessence of human education (enlightenment). [4]

In any case, the most popular topics in encyclopaedia studies refferd the history of organization of encyclopaedic knowledge, encyclopaedic knowledge determination and selection, glossary composition, current state of development of encyclopaedic activity, features of making encyclopaedias and encyclopaedic articles, usage, role and significance of encyclopaedias, typology of encyclopaedic literature, encyclopaedists and encyclopaedic schools, opposition of classical encyclopaedias and Wikipedia as well as paper encyclopaedias and online encyclopaedias, case experience in building encyclopedias etc.

In general, scholarly studies contribute to appearance of successful well-crafted encyclopaedias with high-quality articles.

Contemporary encyclopaedic practice

Today, academic institutions, universities, and publishing companies worldwide are engaged in encyclopaedic activity building national, multinational (universal), regional and subject-specific encyclopaedias, or doing studies related encyclopaedias. The development of national encyclopaedias is one of the prerogatives of the European Parliament in the policy of protection of accurate and verified information and in the fight against mis- and disinformation [5] as well as in the policy of protecting, promoting and projecting Europe's values and interests in the world. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dictionary</span> Collection of words and their meanings

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically, which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Encyclopedia</span> Type of reference work

An encyclopedia or encyclopædia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by article name or by thematic categories, or else are hyperlinked and searchable. Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries. Generally speaking, encyclopedia articles focus on factual information concerning the subject named in the article's title; this is unlike dictionary entries, which focus on linguistic information about words, such as their etymology, meaning, pronunciation, use, and grammatical forms.

Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.

Lexicology is the branch of linguistics that analyzes the lexicon of a specific language. A word is the smallest meaningful unit of a language that can stand on its own, and is made up of small components called morphemes and even smaller elements known as phonemes, or distinguishing sounds. Lexicology examines every feature of a word – including formation, spelling, origin, usage, and definition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Information science</span> Academic field concerned with collection and analysis of information

Information science is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of information. Practitioners within and outside the field study the application and the usage of knowledge in organizations in addition to the interaction between people, organizations, and any existing information systems with the aim of creating, replacing, improving, or understanding the information systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Novalis</span> German poet and writer (1772–1801)

Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, pen name Novalis, was a German aristocrat and polymath, who was a poet, novelist, philosopher and mystic. He is regarded as an influential figure of Jena Romanticism.

An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people, structure, and technology. Information systems can be defined as an integration of components for collection, storage and processing of data of which the data is used to provide information, contribute to knowledge as well as digital products that facilitate decision making.

Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A term is a word, compound word, or multi-word expressions that in specific contexts is given specific meanings—these may deviate from the meanings the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. Terminology is a discipline that studies, among other things, the development of such terms and their interrelationships within a specialized domain. Terminology differs from lexicography, as it involves the study of concepts, conceptual systems and their labels (terms), whereas lexicography studies words and their meanings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange</span> French philologist (1610–1688)

Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, also known simply as Charles Dufresne, was a distinguished French philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium.

A didactic method is a teaching method that follows a consistent scientific approach or educational style to present information to students. The didactic method of instruction is often contrasted with dialectics and the Socratic method; the term can also be used to refer to a specific didactic method, as for instance constructivist didactics.

The branches of science, also referred to as sciences, scientific fields or scientific disciplines, are commonly divided into three major groups:

Design science research (DSR) is a research paradigm focusing on the development and validation of prescriptive knowledge in information science. Herbert Simon distinguished the natural sciences, concerned with explaining how things are, from design sciences which are concerned with how things ought to be, that is, with devising artifacts to attain goals. Design science research methodology (DSRM) refers to the research methodologies associated with this paradigm. It spans the methodologies of several research disciplines, for example information technology, which offers specific guidelines for evaluation and iteration within research projects.

An academic discipline or academic field is a subdivision of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties within colleges and universities to which their practitioners belong. Academic disciplines are conventionally divided into the humanities, including language, art and cultural studies, and the scientific disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, and biology; the social sciences are sometimes considered a third category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese encyclopedia</span> Overview of the Chinese encyclopedia culture

Chinese encyclopedias comprise both Chinese language encyclopedias and foreign language ones about China or Chinese topics. There is a type of native Chinese reference work called leishu that is sometimes translated as "encyclopedia", but although these collections of quotations from classic texts are expansively "encyclopedic", a leishu is more accurately described as a "compendium" or "anthology". The long history of Chinese encyclopedias began with the Huanglanleishu and continues with online encyclopedias such as the Baike Encyclopedia.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to knowledge:

The Institute of Encyclopaedic Researchof the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is a Ukrainian state-supported academic research and publishing organization based in Kyiv, Ukraine. 50°26′39.54″N30°30′56.91″E

<i>Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine</i> General knowledge English-language encyclopaedia

Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine, abbreviated EMU, is a multi-volume national encyclopedia of Ukraine. It is an academic project of the Institute of Encyclopaedic Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Today, the reference work is available in a print edition and online.

The State Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications (SIEP) is a cultural institution founded in 1961 under the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala, India with the objective of disseminating knowledge to the people of Kerala in their pursuit of learning. It was constituted as part of the government policy that Malayalam should be used as the medium of education, administration and judiciary.

Auxiliarysciences of history are scholarly disciplines which help evaluate and use historical sources and are seen as auxiliary for historical research. Many of these areas of study, classification and analysis were originally developed between the 16th and 19th centuries by antiquaries, and would then have been regarded as falling under the broad heading of antiquarianism. "History" was at that time regarded as a largely literary skill. However, with the spread of the principles of empirical source-based history championed by the Göttingen School of History in the late 18th century and later by Leopold von Ranke from the mid-19th century onwards, they have been increasingly regarded as falling within the skill-set of the trained historian.

References

  1. Shores, Louis (1976). Reference as the Promotion of Free Inquiry. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN   9780872871564.
  2. Jermen, Nataša; Kraus, Cvijeta; Starčević Stančić, Irina (2015). "Lexicography and Encyclopaedistics in the Digital Environment" (PDF). The Future of Information Sciences. Department of Information and Communication Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia: 65–76. doi: 10.17234/infuture.2015.9 .{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Bereziuk, Tetiana; Ishchenko, Oleksandr; Ocheretianko, Svitlana; Pylypchuk, Ruslan; Savchenko, Oleh; Feshchenko, Nataliia; Shushkivskyi, Anatolii (2018-12-22). Zhelezniak, Mykola (ed.). "Materials to Glossary for Encyclopedia Science". The Encyclopedia Herald of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 10: 50–82. doi: 10.37068/evu.10.5 . ISSN   2707-000X.
  4. Novalis, 1772-1801. (2007). Notes for a romantic encyclopaedia : Das Allgemeine Brouillon. Wood, David W., 1968-. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN   978-1-4294-7128-2. OCLC   137659435.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. Union, Publications Office of the European (2019-01-15). Europe's online encyclopaedias : equal access to knowledge of general interest in a post-truth era?. Publications Office. doi:10.2861/002977. ISBN   9789284643912 . Retrieved 2020-12-08.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  6. "Protecting, promoting and projecting Europe's values and interests in the world - Think Tank". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2020-12-09.