July 2001
International Organization Information / Research: 2001
-- / --
Prepared for Union of International Associations
See also searchable PDF version (original titles, sub-headings, order and typography); also reports 1959-2006
Document also in segmented format in the Kairos indexed database
Organization profiles / networks
Yearbook of International Organizations: Editorial work on this multi-volume series continued according to the regular annual production. Regular editing and publishing of this edition is complete (with the exception of the new Volume 5):
- Organization descriptions and index (Volume 1, 2001-2002, 38th edition)
- International Organization Participation (Volume 2):
- Classified subjects and index (Volume 3)
- Bibliographies (Volume 4)
- Statistics, Visualizations and Patterns (Volume 5, 1st edition, 450 pages): out in November. This will include an extensive range of images of networks of organization, problems and strategies.
- The annual edition of the Yearbook CD-ROM will appear in October.
World problems / Strategic potential
Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential:
- Print version: no longer produced, although tentative discussions continue.
- CD-ROM version: see below
- Online version: see below
Biographical profiles of leadership
Who's Who in International Organizations: Work on a new 3-volume edition is being initiated in October for completion mid-2002
Meetings scheduled / Conference organization / Associate Membership
International Congress Calendar (quarterly, 350 pages): This is the subject of a separate report.
Associations review / journal
Transnational Associations: This is the subject of a separate report.
[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]
By-products / CD-ROM / Online
Online databases: Since November 2000, our databases for international organizations, world problems, strategies, human development and human values have been online and interlinked – extensive access is free of charge ((at https://www.uia.org/data.htm).
Organization data is made available under subscription. The databases have been successfully switched to a new server. Much effort has gone into increasing the security features against different forms of abuse. Users can now provide comments on specific profiles which are immediately integrated into the database for access by other users. We are in process of completing the online version of the international meetings data.
A new computer proof process has been developed to communicate with international organizations profiled in the Yearbook. A notable feature is that it gives each organization a unique password enabling them to consult their own entry on the web -- as well as that of any organization to which they refer as collaborators. It offers organizations a way of using the Yearbook free of charge.
Users can now sponsor editorial work on single entries or on whole databases through online payments. This micro-sponsoring facility is an extension of our new online payment facility. Discussion for have been created for users (at http://db.uia.org/forum/default.asp). We are pleased with user response from around the world to these facilities. UIA information services are widely indexed by web search engines.
Multimedia: As a means of increasing access to UIA online information by a wider variety of users, visualization and sound techniques have now been incorporated and are in process of development (see http://db.uia.org/scripts/sweb.dll/examples) We are now able to produce high-quality, poster-sized, multi-colour maps of networks of problems, organizations or strategies for use in conferences. Smaller versions have been printed on T-shirts and other products to give visibility to the online facilities (https://www.uia.org/visuals).
Research / Statistics
Many new research papers are now accessible on the UIA website (www.uia.org/uiadocs). Older papers, notably from Transnational Associations, are progressively being scanned to make them accessible on the web.
Articles in current issues of Transnational Associations are increasingly made available online.
Consideration is being given to scanning of UIA's historical (1910-1925) publications on civil society to permit web access.
NB: A web summary of UIA's knowledge management work is available (at www.uia.org/uiaprof/posie3.htm)
Future development strategy / Proposals / Fund-raising
In July 2000 we completed the final phase of our major (1997-2000) project on Information Context for Biodiversity Conservation (see www.ecolynx.org).
In parallel with continued low-cost online access, we are considering production of a new hardcopy version of the 3-volume Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential.
Continuing attention is given to the opportunities for research contracts under the EU IST Programme.
In addition to data contracts from universities and Associate Members, the UIA produced under contract the statistical tables for the new Global Civil Society Yearbook of the LSE Centre for Civil Society.
We are working on introduction of a sophisticated networking package to enable our various external editorial collaborators to work directly on our in-house system.
The main UIA website is being extensively revised and redesigned. Users can now obtain automatic translations of pages into 8 languages (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese). We hope to extend this to the database profiles.
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