Transnational character of web encyclopaedias

U protekla tri stoljeća suvremenih enciklopedija tradicionalna su tiskana djela obično bila usmjerena određenom području na kojem su bila raspačavana. O tome je području u velikoj mjeri ovisio odabir tema relevantnih za obradu, kao i širina i način te obrade, pa se ono javlja kao jedan od čimbenika koji pojedinim tradicionalnim enciklopedičkim djelima daju, u većoj ili manjoj mjeri, lokalizirani, regionalni ili nacionalni karakter. S druge strane, objavom enciklopedičkih djela na internetu, kao svesvjetskoj komunikacijskoj mreži, zbog suštine toga medija granice pojedinoga distribucijskoga područja postaju znatno »mekše«, a rastuće internacionalno čitateljstvo tih djela nameće potrebu pomaka u smjeru njihova nadnacionalnoga karaktera. Štoviše, imajući u vidu sve bolje odlike internetskih sustava za prevođenje, može se očekivati da se krug internacionalnih korisnika enciklopedija širi izvan jezičnih granica. Zato, kao i zbog čestog apostrofiranja enciklopedija kao organiziranoga skupa informacija, vrlo pogodnoga za osnovu razvoja weba nove generacije, tzv. semantičkoga weba, internetske enciklopedije imaju perspektivu prerastanja u platforme za međunacionalno i nadnacionalno kulturno povezivanje.In the past three centuries of modern encyclopaedias, some published works were usually directed towards a specific area (market) where they were distributed (sold), which largely depended on the language in which they were written. In spite of a declared objectivity and comprehensiveness, the choice of themes relevant to the treatment, as well as the scope and the method of that treatment depended on that area. Therefore, most of the traditional encyclopaedic works have, to a lesser or greater degree, a national character. On the other hand, by publishing encyclopaedic works on the Internet as a world-wide communication web, because of the essence of that media, boundaries of a specific area of distribution become significantly “softer”, and those works receive a transnational character. As confirmation to this thesis, one can look at statistical analyses of the number of visits to web encyclopaedias of the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. 25% of users from abroad visited the Portal of Knowledge (Portal znanja) in the given period of a single year, while the latest research of the number of visits to the Prolexis Encyclopaedia (Proleksis enciklopedija) shows 31% of international users. Among them, most were from countries that share a linguistic closeness with Croatia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Such data is unattainable for printed works, so the editors of web encyclopaedias have to take into account the international structure of their users. Moreover, taking into account improving qualities of web translators, it is to be expected that linguistic closeness, as the remaining limiting factor of the circle of web encyclopaedias users, is slowly losing its significance, while the circle of international users of encyclopaedias is still expanding. For that reason, as well as for often apostrophizing encyclopaedias as an organized collection of information which is suitable for the basis of the development of next-generation web, the so-called semantic web, web encyclopaedias have a significant perspective of becoming platforms for international and transnational cultural connecting

Transnational character of web encyclopaedias

U protekla tri stoljeća suvremenih enciklopedija tradicionalna su tiskana djela obično bila usmjerena određenom području na kojem su bila raspačavana. O tome je području u velikoj mjeri ovisio odabir tema relevantnih za obradu, kao i širina i način te obrade, pa se ono javlja kao jedan od čimbenika koji pojedinim tradicionalnim enciklopedičkim djelima daju, u većoj ili manjoj mjeri, lokalizirani, regionalni ili nacionalni karakter. S druge strane, objavom enciklopedičkih djela na internetu, kao svesvjetskoj komunikacijskoj mreži, zbog suštine toga medija granice pojedinoga distribucijskoga područja postaju znatno »mekše«, a rastuće internacionalno čitateljstvo tih djela nameće potrebu pomaka u smjeru njihova nadnacionalnoga karaktera. Štoviše, imajući u vidu sve bolje odlike internetskih sustava za prevođenje, može se očekivati da se krug internacionalnih korisnika enciklopedija širi izvan jezičnih granica. Zato, kao i zbog čestog apostrofiranja enciklopedija kao organiziranoga skupa informacija, vrlo pogodnoga za osnovu razvoja weba nove generacije, tzv. semantičkoga weba, internetske enciklopedije imaju perspektivu prerastanja u platforme za međunacionalno i nadnacionalno kulturno povezivanje.In the past three centuries of modern encyclopaedias, some published works were usually directed towards a specific area (market) where they were distributed (sold), which largely depended on the language in which they were written. In spite of a declared objectivity and comprehensiveness, the choice of themes relevant to the treatment, as well as the scope and the method of that treatment depended on that area. Therefore, most of the traditional encyclopaedic works have, to a lesser or greater degree, a national character. On the other hand, by publishing encyclopaedic works on the Internet as a world-wide communication web, because of the essence of that media, boundaries of a specific area of distribution become significantly “softer”, and those works receive a transnational character. As confirmation to this thesis, one can look at statistical analyses of the number of visits to web encyclopaedias of the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. 25% of users from abroad visited the Portal of Knowledge (Portal znanja) in the given period of a single year, while the latest research of the number of visits to the Prolexis Encyclopaedia (Proleksis enciklopedija) shows 31% of international users. Among them, most were from countries that share a linguistic closeness with Croatia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Such data is unattainable for printed works, so the editors of web encyclopaedias have to take into account the international structure of their users. Moreover, taking into account improving qualities of web translators, it is to be expected that linguistic closeness, as the remaining limiting factor of the circle of web encyclopaedias users, is slowly losing its significance, while the circle of international users of encyclopaedias is still expanding. For that reason, as well as for often apostrophizing encyclopaedias as an organized collection of information which is suitable for the basis of the development of next-generation web, the so-called semantic web, web encyclopaedias have a significant perspective of becoming platforms for international and transnational cultural connecting

The Encyclopaedic Concept in a Web Environment

U doba tranzicije enciklopedičkoga djela iz tiskanoga u mrežni oblik, zahvaljujući funkcionalnostima koje novi medij omogućuje, javljaju se i dublje promjene u temeljima enciklopedijske struke, tj. u enciklopedičkim principima i enciklopedičkom konceptu kao njihovoj cjelini. Refleksija takva stanja jesu tendencije Wikipedije, kao najkorištenijega enciklopedičkoga djela današnjice, da se uvođenjem prilagodbi postupno približi vrijednostima tradicionalne enciklopedije, dok se tradicionalne, uređivane enciklopedije postupno otvaraju za nova stremljenja, ponajprije potaknuta danas već ustaljenim navikama korisnika Wikipedije.In today’s age of the transition of encyclopaedias from the printed into a web form, thanks to the functionalities that the new media enables, there are deeper changes in the foundations of the encyclopaedic field, i.e. in the encyclopaedic principles and the encyclopaedic concept as their whole. The reflection of these conditions are the tendencies of Wikipedia, being the most used encyclopaedia today, to implement some changes so as to gradually come closer to the values of the traditional encyclopaedia, while the traditional, edited encyclopaedias are being gradually opened to new tendencies, induced by the well-established habits of Wikipedia users