Challenges to Comprehension Implied by the Logo of Laetus in Praesens
Laetus in Praesens
15 June 1985

International Organization Information / Research: 1985

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Prepared for Union of International Associations (Executive Council, 15 June 1985)
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Organization profiles / networks

Yearbook of International Organizations: An overview of this series is given in Annex A, and tentatively composed of the following 4 volumes (subsequently 3 volumes).

Organization descriptions and index (Volume 1): Editorial work on the 1985/86 edition of this publication was completed on schedule for the end of May. Publication is expected in July. In January 1985 Saur had requested that publication be delayed two months for marketing reasons, although at the begining of May a request was made by Saur to return to the original schedule. This could not be done. The extra two months was used to eliminate a backlog of unprocessed material. The major problem with this publication is Saur's requirement that it not be increased beyond 1600 pages because of' binding problems. A choice has therefore to be made on what sections• l to: (a) abridge, (b) include in the index only, or (c) omit entirely.

The following decisions were made:

This edition benefitted from the special editorial efforts put into entries on African, Islamic and intergovernmental bodies for the Guides to International Organization (see below).

Policy issues:

International Organization Participation (Volume 2): Editorial work on the 1985/86 edition of this publication was completed on schedule for 15th June. Publication is expected between July and September, depending on Saur.

Policy issues:

Global Action Networks (Volume 3): Editorial work on this publication has been postponed until September/October 1985 until work on· Volume 4 has been completed. Publication is expected for December 1985, one year after the last edition.

World Problems (Volume 4; not produced as such, see below): This publication will benefit by inclusion of information from Volume 4 as was done for the 1984/85 editions. In that edition was included names of world problems from the working files for Volume 4. This will now cover between 5,000 and 10,000 problems names, depending on whether "index only'' problem names are included.

Policy issues:

World problems / Strategic potential

World Problems and Human Potential: Editorial work on this edition is expected to continue through September 1985. Tentatively planned as Volume 4 of the Yearbook series. Progress by section is as follows:

It is still hoped that "problem network maps" in some form or another can be generated from programs under test and printed in the volume. A major function of this program is to test the cross-refrence for structural errors; which are very difficult to detect by visual inspection.

Policy issues:

Meetings scheduled / Conference organization / Associate Membership

International Congress Calendar (quarterly): The report on the editorial and publishing aspects of this publication will be made separately. With the introduction of the new computer system it is expected that editorial work and production of extracts will be considerably facilitated. A number of specific weaknesses arising from the current system will be eliminited. It is expected that the new system will offer a wide range of facilities to Associate Members, matehing those planned by other bodies (such as ICCA) in this field.

By-products / CD-ROM / Online

New categories of information In recent edtions of the Yearbook (vol 1) new sections have been opened on the following new categories of "international organization":

The context is now available to handle national organizations, such as the members of international bodies in sections B,C,D, if this is appropriate. The forms would be on names and addresses for mailing purposes.

It is also appropriate to consider entering portions of the vast collection of information on past meetings. The focus would be on producing meeting profiles by organization on request. In the forthcoming edition of Yearbook (vol 4) will be a number of categories of information, related to international association preoccupations and the "world problematique which are valid extensions of UIA concerns.

Multinational Enterprises Directory : This project was explored with ICAI (see below) but has been postponed because of the heavy UIA commitments in 1985.

Guides to International Organization: An overview of this series extracted from the Yearbook of International Organizations is given in Annex B. Volumes contracted and produced so far include:

Although production of these directories disrupted the work flow for the Yearbook most of the editorial work contributed directly to the improvement of entires in the Yearbook. In particular it provided the justification for reviewing a partially processed backlog of material.

Policy issues:

Associations review / journal

Transnational Associations / Associations transnationales (bimonthly)

[NB: Versions of the UIA periodical: La Vie Internationale, 1912-21; Bulletin des associations internationals, 1943-44; Bulletin mensuel, 1951-53; International Associations, 1954-76; Transnational Associations, 1977-2001]

Collaborative projects / External relations

IERD Series This series, described in Annex C, is edited by the Institute of Cultural Affairs International (Brussels) and arises from a 1984/86 programme built around the International Exposition on Rural Development (New Delhi, 1984) and its follow-up.

The UAI has provided much advice on the following publications and ensured their publications by Saur in a series which parallels the series of Guides to International Organization (above). As such the IERD Series is produced "in collaboration with" the UAI. The volume currently in production are:

Future volumes have already been discussed with Saur.

Multinational Enterprises Directory: This project was explored with ICAI but has been postponed because of the heavy UIA commitments in 1985.

Policies issues:

Associations review / journal

[NB: Versions of the UIA periodical: La Vie Internationale, 1912-21; Bulletin des associations internationals, 1943-44; Bulletin mensuel, 1951-53; International Associations, 1954-76; Transnational Associations, 1977-2001]

Statutes / Legal status

International Association Statutes: A summary of this series to be published by Saur is given in Annex D.

The first volume is based on statutes of NGOs in sections A,B and C of the Yearbook. Approximately 550 statutes will be published in a volume of 600 pages. Editorial work on this publication, mainly keyboarding onto word processors, commenced in April 1985. The keyboarding was subcontracted to the Institute of Cultural Affairs International. Half was finished in April 1985 and the remainder is expected to be finished by June 15th. The texts will then be submitted to NGO in case there have been subsequent amendements. It is hoped that the volume can be produced in October 1985. No plans have yet been made for the next volume in the series.

Policy Issues

Research / Statistics

Research publications The following publications have been produced over the last 18 months:

When appropriate material from these publications is adapted for use in Yearbook Volume 4.

Collaborative projects / External relations

Collaboration with Institute of Cultural Affairs International: ICAI is a complex organization specializing in community development especially in slum areas and in developig countries.The headquarters is in Chicago with a principal regional office in Brussels. Its 1000 individual members, many with advanced qualifications are organized as a lay order not explicity associated with any particular religion. ICAI has specialized in very comprehensive social development research projects little of which has yet been published. Extensive use is made of computers by ICAI to manage its affairs and its data base on rural development projects. As a means of generating income, it has formed a company Service Ventures which undertakes management consultancy, training and computerrelated projects.

After sporadic contacts with individual ICAI members in 1982 and 1983, UAI was invited to a major ICAI meeting in Chicago in July 1984. Duriong that visit some 30 kilos of documents were obtained from ICAI research archives, on topics relevant to the UAI project 0n World Problems and Human Potential. Of particular inte~est is material derived from 40 community dialogues'around the· world.

On the basis of this material, UAI has negotiated a number of editorial contracts with ICAI/ Service Ventures, specifically

Other contracts are under discussion

Contracts have also been negotiated with Service Ventures for the installation of the new UAI computer system.

UAI has assisted ICAI in its own IERD Series publication progranme as described above. This series is being produced "in collaboration with" UAI. UAI and ICAI together explored the possibility of collaboration on the production of an International Directory of Multinational Enterprises. This has been postponed.

Other collaborative arrangements With the new information system a number of collaborative arrangements become more credible:

Future development strategy / Proposals / Fund-raising

New areas of investigation Partly arising out of Yearbook (vol 4), there is the fundamental question for the UIA of moving beyond simple generation of descriptive text entries. The difficulty is that the international community and the world problematique are now so complex that even if the UIA publication provides a comprehensive range of entries on appropriate categories of information, there remains a need for "repackaging'' this information to render it comprehensible.

This could prove the key challenge in the further use of the kind of information that UIA collects. Areas which have been tentatively explored are

Consolidation With the shift from biennial to annual publication of a Yearbook which is now appearing in four volumes instead of one, the pace of work has become much tighter. A new annual cycle must be started long before the previous one is finished. It is not easy to maintain this pace through holiday periods. The considerable transformation of the methods of work will therefore require a period of consolidation to determine the most useful ways of using the information system.

Publishing / Marketing

Increasing value to NGOs It is important to ensure that the improvement in the manner in which information is being collected and presented by the UIA constitute a genuine improvement in the service to the international community and to NGOs in particular. It is clear that whilst the current publication programme through Saur has proved very successful in terms of the range, quality and frequency of publications, this has been achieved by increasing the price to a level beyond the budget of most NGOs (or of many IGO departments with an interest in NGOs). This unfortunate situation, governed by marketing constraints in a difficult economic period, is being met in the following way:

In the near future it may be possible to extend the latter facility to include improved telephone, telex, or computerized response to NGO needs. The possibilities of electronic mail and computer link-up (already functioning amongst NGOs for several years in North America) should continue to be explored.

Non-UIA publication The high cost of a general reference work capable of covering the whole international community encourages other bodies to produce much cheaper specialized directories, even if these are not produced on a regular basis (e.g WHO NGO directory), proposals for a UNESCO NGO directory). The UIA should respond creatively to those who wish to produce such directories by facilitating their editorial and publishing tasks. Indeed the UIA should suggest such publications to bodies who might interested in producing them.

It is important to recognize the continuing presence of: - Europa Yearbook - Gale International Organization Directory - 12 - These publication are in the same price range as the UIA Yearbook but have a somewhat different range of users.

Contracts with Saur At present there are separate contracts with Saur for:

as well as an ad hoc general contract for publications in the series of Guides to International Organization. The contract for the Calendar is discussed separately.

The contract for Yearbook l, 2 and 3 is currently worded such that Saur can cease publishing volumes 2 and 3 if these are deemed uneconomic. So far there has been no indication of this. It is in his interest to continue to create the impression that his position on this question may be modified. The contract for Yearbook 4 (World Problems) is for editions separated by 2 years (i.e not annual). This can only be considered fair under the circumstances.

The "fluidity" in the contractual arrangements with Saur is to the advantage of both parties. Each party exploits the situation in its own way. Clearly the UIA is vulnerable in the event of inability to market the Yearbook effectively. But it is not clear that there would be much to be gained by ''rationalizing" the arrangements further. UIA is very fortunate to be working with a pubisher who is prepared to take risks in our interest. The problem will come when specific UIA pubication are no longer considered a worthwhile risk by Saur - whether or not there is a "contract''.

Computer-related infrastructure

Introduction The detailed description of the information system developments is given in Annex E

Description of hardware elements

(a) Workstations (editorial and keyboarding): IBM PC compatible, 2 disk (some with 8087 co-processor, some with local printer. Monitor with polaroid filter, AZERTY Keyboards. (Price, depending on configuration: ca 100,000 BF per unit).

(b) File server (system management): XT version of workstation,512 K RAM, with 1 floppy drive and 1 lOmB drive. (Price: ca 200,000 BF).

(c) Main memory: Novell 76 mB ( 76 million characters) hard disk, access time ca 35 ms (Price: ca 830,000 BF)

(d) Tape unit: Thorn EMI streamer tape interfacing with PC for memory backup and file transfer to sservice bureau (7" and 10" tapes) (Price: ca 450,000 BF).

(e) Network: Novell Netware operating system with Omninet transporter cards in each workstation to permit linkage via Ornninet twisted pair cable. (Price: 120.000 BF,operatins system; 40,000 BF per workstation, transporter cards).

(f) Local printers: Hewlett Packard Thinkjet, low noise printers for selected (editorial) workstations (Price: 40,000 BF per unit).

(g) High speed/quality printer: Hewlett Packard Laserjet (Price: 350,000 BF) or Applewriter (Price: 450,000 BF).

(h) Modem: (Acoustic) modern to link via telephone system to other computers (Price: ca 25,000 BF).

(i) Integration into network of existing NCR 8 to 16 bit upgrade (Price: 36,000 BF), Omninet transporter (Price: ca. 25,000) card and/or RS232 Smarteable (Price: 7,000 BF).

Software The database software package finally selected is called Revelation. Its principal feature is the ability to handle a very large number of variable length text records whilst permitting normal data base operations on them.

The network operating system is mentioned above under point (e). Worstration operations will be facilitated by keyswap software (Price: ca; 3000 BF). Additional software for a variety of tasks will be purchased or developed as required.

UIA Local Area Network

Local computer services In the light of the above collaborative arrangements the following concrete uses of the information system can be envisaged, whether for the UIA or others:

The last item would be dependent on the quality of the printer, which is one reason for favouring a laser printer.

Online access: As reported previously, UIA could give copies of its files to the European Space Agency to provide online access worldwide. The final decision on this has been delayed for two reasons:

On the second point it is necessary to be clear about four groups:

Several possibilities therefore exist UIA:

Annexes [in PDF format]

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