European Thesaurus on International Relations and Area Studies A multilingual terminological tool on...

European Thesaurus on International Relations and Area Studies

A multilingual terminological tool on international affairs

Axel HuckstorfStiftung Wissenschaft und Politik –

German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin

Euro Thesaurus - EuroVoc Conference 2010 2

Euro Thesaurus - EuroVoc Conference 2010

Purpose of the Euro Thesaurus Terminological tool for indexing and

information retrieval in the field of international relations and area studies

To foster cooperation and divison of labour between related European research institutions through the harmonisation of controlled vocabularies

Terminological reference work / translation tool

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Statistics

8,250 descriptors (each language) Numerous non-descriptors (numbers vary

for each linguistic version) High number of compound/multiword

terms and pre-combined phrases 24 thematic chapters (fields) with further

differentiation (field-groups and sub-groups)

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Multilinguality

English = primary language Target languages: Croatian, Czech, French,

(Greek), German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish

Symmetrical thesaurus, i.e. one equivalent descriptor in every target language for each descriptor from the source language

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Print version

Published in September 2007 7 languages (Czech, English, French,

German, Italian, Polish, Spanish) Vol. 1: Seven-lingual systematic part Vol. 2/3: Monolingual alphabetical parts

(incl. selection of relevant non-descriptors)

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Online version

Access via web portal IREON Gateway (International RElations and Area Studies ONline)

9 languages (Croatian, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish)

Greek version in translation Full semantic relationships

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http://www.ireon-portal.eu/index.php?id=91&L=1

Descriptor display (online version)



Background of European Thesaurus project

Foundation of „European Information Network on International Relations and Area Studies“ (EINIRAS) in 1992

EINIRAS Database Network (EDN) EINIRAS Task Group on Standardization of

Documentational Tools

Euro Thesaurus

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Source thesauri Thesaurus of German Specialized Network

on International Relations and Area Studies (8,500 descriptors)

Royal Institute of International Affairs Library Thesaurus (3,000)

CERES Thesaurus - Council of Europe (2,100) Thesaurus de l’IFRI (1,500) SIPRI Thesaurus (700)

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Usage

Currently used for indexing and retrieval in bibliographic/factual databases by: German Specialized Information Network

International Relations and Area Studies (FIV)12 German research institutes

Institute of International Relations (IIR), Prague

Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), Warsaw

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Collaborative database: „World Affairs Online“

Circa 900,000 bibliographic records

Searchable on IREON portal and via various hosts (EDN, Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog, ViFaPol, GBV Common Library Network, GENIOS)

Usage German FIV network (1)


http://www.fiv-iblk.de/database/information.htm

http://einiras.coe.int/edn/

http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/hylib/iblk/

http://www.vifapol.de/

Euro Thesaurus primary indexing tool Further controlled vocabulary:

Classifications (geographical/subject)„Free“ subject terms, proper names

(institutions, agreements, conferences, projects, geographical names, etc.)

Euro Thesaurus also used for factual documentation (e.g. international treaties)

Usage German FIV network (2)


Sample document FIV Database


Sample document IREON portal


Usage IIR (Prague)


IIR Library catalogue

Euro Thesaurus primary indexing tool

Additional controlled vocabulary (in Czech)

Circa 65,500 bibliographic records (books, journals, articles, studies, papers)

Sample document IIR Database (1)


Sample document IIR Database (2)


Euro Thesaurus primary indexing tool Additional controlled vocabulary (mostly

proper names) Two databases:

Books/Journals (circa 49,000 records) Articles (circa 54,000 records)

Usage PISM (Warsaw)


Sample document PISM Database



Maintenance

European Thesaurus Development Group (ETDG)

7 members - coming from institutions that apply the Euro Thesaurus (FIV, IIR, PISM)

Annual meetings of ETDG in Berlin 40-50 descriptors discussed per meeting Term database for project work Thesaurus Wiki in preparation

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Initiatives

Cross-concordances have been established with four related controlled terminologies: PAIS Subject Headings Standard Thesaurus Economics (STW) Thesaurus for Economic and Social

Development (TWSE) Thesaurus for Social Sciences (TheSoz)

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Summary

Euro Thesaurus project successful because: Contributed to overcome Cold War

„terminological divide“ in international affairs Unique multilingual controlled vocabulary (with

regard to coverage as well as linguistic variety) High potential for international cooperation

between related academic institutions concerning information organisation and retrieval in the field of international relations and area studies

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Thank you very much!

[email protected]

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European Thesaurus on International Relations and Area Studies A multilingual terminological tool on...

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