Encyclopedia of World Problems - Archived Information

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CD-ROM version

CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential

Edited by the Union of International Associations, Published by K.G. Saur Munchen.

On a single CD-ROM, Encyclopedia Plus contains the text of over 3,000 pages of the renowned 3-volume book-edition Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential including the new section on Global Strategies and Solutions. This unique work is a comprehensive sourcebook of information on recognized world problems, their interconnections and the human resources available to analyze and respond to them, and is part of the UIA's Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential research area. The CD-ROM technology greatly enhances search and cross-referencing capabilities. Searches are very fast. One can scan selected fields or the entire text, using keywords or subject categories.
 

The CD-ROM is divided into five main infobases:

  • World Problems Infobase: Encyclopedia Plus profiles 12,000 world problems in an infobase with 120,000 hyperlinks between them. Navigating them provides the user with unparalleled insight into the complex network of the world problematic.(More info)
  • Human Development Infobase: There are some 4,400 individual entries in the human development infobase. They document the diversity of approaches to human advancement in the light of different disciplines, cultures and spiritual traditions. Entries ore hyperlinked to indicate developmental pathways between them. They are also related to over 3,200 constructive and destructive values in the values infobase, themselves in a network of 23,000 hyperlinks. (More info | commentaries)
  • Human Values Infobase: The Encyclopedia takes an unusual approach to the range of human values. It identifies 987 "constructive" or positive values as well as 1,990 "destructive" or negative values, clustered into 230 value polarities to transcend the semantic confusion associated with many value words. 23,000 hyper links exist between the values infobase and to the human development (8,300) and world problems (16,300) infobases.(More info | commentaries)
  • Strategies Infobase: The strategy infobase profiles almost 29,500 strategies and action proposals responding to world problems or enhancing particular values or modes of development. In similar fashion to the problems infobase, the strategy entries crossreference each other through over 91,000 hyperlinks. In addition they show links both to world problems and international organizations which are employing or advocating them -- making a total cover of over 126,000 hyperlinks.(More info | commentaries)
  • Bibliography Infobase: There are over 12,000 bibliographic crossreferences to entries in the other four preceding infobases.

Network of 260,000 Hyperlinked Cross-references: There are cross-references between Encyclopedia entries -- working in the above demos on this site. These are listed after the text of each entry. Following the pattern of cross- references, hyperlinks allow the user to "jump" from one entry to another in the network. The hypertext format means that cross-relationships between Encyclopedia entries are available at the click of a button: for example, between "broader" (more general) strategies and their "narrower" (more specific) strategies; or between problems which aggravate or are aggravated by another. In some cases there are also hyperlinks between entries in different infobases. In all, there are more than 250,000 hyperlinks on Encyclopedia Plus. The hyperlinks between the problems, strategies, values and human development infobases enable the user to explore a higher level of relationships between these dimensions.

It is equally quick and simple to click between the five infobases on the CD. Hyperlinks exist also between certain entries in different infobases -- for example between strategies, the organizations concerned with them, the problems they address and reference publications on the subject. In practice this means that users can explore the complex networks of relationships between world problems, human development, values, action strategies and organizations through almost a quarter of a million hyperlinks. Such explorations cumbersome, if not impossible using books.

Vicious Problem Cycles: A cycle is a chain of problems, with each aggravating the next - with the last looping back to aggravate the first in the chain. 2,873 such problem loops are identified on the CD.

Commentary and Explanatory Pages: The methods and criteria by which the Encyclopedia was produced, together with commentaries on the significance of different sections, notably for the challenge of world governance, are provided in over 200 pages. These can be searched like the other infobases. Specific commentaries cover: world problems, organizational strategies, metaphors for governance, integrative knowledge organization, transformative approaches, human values and human development.

General Features

  • Search fields:
    • Problems: Name, Nature, Incidence, Broader, Narrower, Aggravates, Reduces, Loops, Claim/Counter-claim; Bibliography
    • Human Development: Name, Description, Content, Broader, Related, Narrower, Preceding approach, Following approach
    • Strategies: Name, Description, Implementation, Cliam/Counter-claim, Broader, Narrower, Constrains, Facilitates, Organizations, Problems, Bibliography
    • Human Values: Name, Dynamics, Broader, Narrower, Human development, Problems
  • Query windows: English. Language of contents: English.
  • Further features: Indices, Boolean operators, Truncation, History function for search queries, Bookmark, Note and Highlighter function, and clustering of hits into stored groups
  • Printing/Export: DOS: no printing facilities; Windows/MAC: no restrictions
  • Software: Folio Bound VIEWS 3.1a
  • Interface: Microsoft Windows, Windows'95, MS-DOS, Macintosh

Special features

  • The Folio Bound Views: A major advantage in the Folio environment is that every word is indexed. Searches are very fast. They can be made by field combinations of fields or for the text as a whole. Standard bookmark facilities allow the user to return to an earlier entry. Notes and highlighters can be used.
  • Changes to information content by users: The software allows users to make their own additions and changes to the data. These are saved as special overlay files "through" which users subsequently view the data on the CD-ROM. Different users may have their own overlay files making the tool very interesting for institutional users and student projects.
  • Multi-lingual access: Language barriers are a major issue in international organization information. A very rich multilingual thesaurus has been developed to enable users to interact with the data according to their language preference. For example, German users can use German words to access information only available in English.

Technical data

  • DOS configuration: PC compatible 80386 or higher; minimum 4 MB memory (RAM); minimum 7 MB hard drive storage capacity; MS-DOS 3.3 or higher; Screen EGA or VGA; DIN/ISO 9660 CD-ROM drive (preferably 2-spin or higher)
  • Windows configuration: PC compatible 80486 or higher; minimum 4 MB memory (RAM); minimum 7 MB hard drive storage capacity; MS-DOS 3.3 or higher; MS-Windows 3.1 or higher; Screen EGA or VGA; DIN/ISO 9660 CD-ROM drive (preferably 2-spin or higher)
  • Macintosh configuration (Encyclopedia only or Yearbook 95/96 edition): Macintosh with 68020 processor; minimum 6 MB memory (RAM); minimum 7 MB hard drive storage capacity; System 7; access is accelerated on a Power Mac; DIN/ISO 9660 CD-ROM drive.