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By Gesa Büttner and Joerg Torkler - November 2002
Gesa Büttner and Joerg Torkler present the Compendium, a web-based information service on cultural policies in Europe. This article will focus on its technical features and access mechanisms.
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Cultural policies in Europe : a compendium of basic facts and trends (or short: Compendium) is a reference tool on national cultural policies which is available for public use as an online information system on the Internet [1]. It provides administrators, decision-makers, researchers, politicians, journalists, and other interested users with easy access to up-to-date facts, statistics, trends, strategies, examples and current debates of national cultural policy in Europe.
The Compendium is a work in progress which is not only continuously updated and maintained, but also expanded on a regular basis. At the moment (summer 2002), 23 country profiles are available on the Web and more will be added by the end of 2002 including Germany, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom. Eventually, profiles of all 48 Member States to the European Cultural Convention shall be included [2]. Coverage of policy issues and thematic priorities is being constantly expanded.
The Compendium is a transnational project which was set up in 1998 as a joint venture between the Research Unit of the Cultural Policy and Action Department of the Council of Europe [3] and ERICarts, the European Research Institute for Comparative Cultural Policy and the Arts [4]. The project framework was designed to create a new systematic approach to allow observations about cultural policies in Europe to be generated and comparisons made.
Of core importance is the methodological grid, a thematic outline, which structures the contents of the national policy country profiles in a systematic way covering historical development, administrative context, policy objectives, legal provisions, financing of culture, new partnerships, support for creativity and participation, etc. The grid is numbered and organised up to three levels of subdivision [5].
The Compendium is being realised in partnership with a network of experts. These national authors are responsible for their country profile, work they fulfil in co-operation with the authorities responsible for cultural policy in their respective countries. Editing and quality control is being carried out by a co-ordinating team made up of representatives from the Council of Europe and ERICarts.
The Web site of the Compendium has been designed in frames. Ease of navigation and usability is one of the primary concerns at the heart of the design concept. The use of frames allows the main menu to remain in view at all the times while users browse the wealth of information presented online. In order to facilitate faster access to the content, the frames have been designed to prevent the menu bar from reloading each time a page is refreshed.
The disadvantage of using framesets is that many search engine spiders can only index the parent frameset. This can be avoided by preparing individual country entry pages including meta-tag information and noframe tag content. This enables individual indexing by search engines and allows also for deep linking to a specific country profile [6]. Version 3 browser releases which were not able to display frames required additional support up until early 2001 [7].
For the production of the Compendium Web site in HTML both Macromedia Dreamweaver [8] and a simple text editor were used. Photoshop and Paintshop Pro were used for the picture editing. With regard to application languages, ASP (Active Server Pages), VBScript, Perl, JavaScript were employed. A database in Microsoft Access is also part of the Compendium (see below under Comparative view). The server platform is made up of a Microsoft IIS4 Web server which runs under Windows NT. The Internet Provider is x-dot GmbH, Waltrup 16, 48341 Altenberge, Germany [9].
The functionalities of the Compendium have been designed with Dynamic HTML (DHTML). DHTML is the combination of several built-in browser features in fourth generation browsers that enable a Web page to be more dynamic. The three main technologies that make up DHTML are: HTML, JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). HTML is used for the basic structure of the document, JavaScript to manipulate the Document Object Model (DOM) with the purpose of creating interactive functionalities, and CSS to define the presentation and style of the document [10].
Specific examples of the use of DHTML and in particular of JavaScript in the design of the Compendium are mentioned under the relevant functionalities.
The technique of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) has been used to control the presentation of the Compendium. To facilitate the maintenance of over 1,200 HTML documents making up the Compendium, these documents are linked to a stylesheet, an external CSS file, which sets rules for fonts, headings, colours, spacing, etc.
The information in the Compendium is organised in country profiles. In this section, we present the different access and retrieval mechanisms - access by menu, comparative view, full text searching, download option - giving both the user and the technical design perspectives.
The relevant sections and sub-sections can be summarised as follows:
A horizontal scrollable menu bar with the names of available countries provides access to the individual country profiles.
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| Figure 1: The scrollable menu bar |
Within a country profile, the user can go through the text successively using the navigation buttons either at the top left top corner - to go from main chapter to main chapter - or at the bottom right - to navigate linearly through the entire text including its sub-sections and sub-sub-sections.
Another access mode is to jump to any point using a scrollable table of contents.
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| Figure 2: The table of contents |
Figure 2 illustrates the main chapters, i.e. the first level contents. Also the second and third level headings of the table of contents can be displayed and accessed via this single point of entry.
Both the horizontal scrollable menu bar (see Figure 1) and the menu with the table of contents (see Figure 2) have been created in DHTML using JavaScript. The horizontal scrollable menu bar has been inserted in a top frame in order to enable the user to access all available country profiles without losing his or her navigational overview. The interactive table of contents has been designed as a top-vertical sliding menu: it appears - i.e. it "slides" into the screen - when the user clicks on the chapter (or sub-section) button.
More than ten thousand hyperlinks make it possible to navigate between the chapters of all available country profiles. As each country profile is based on an HTML template consisting of 48 single pages, these hyperlinks are organised through a search-and-replace programme. For each newly introduced country profile, the country name simply needs to be replaced in the source code in order to create the appropriate links.
The Compendium is not limited to linear reading, but benefits further from Web technology which interweaves the profiles among each other: the horizontal hyperlinks between the same section of all available country profiles make a cross-country navigation possible. For a transversal reading of the cultural policy profiles the user jumps, for a given topic, from country to country using the country menu bar which remains active also from within the country profile.
For example, in order to get an answer to the question what support measures for artists are available in European countries, one goes to section 8.1.1 Special artists support schemes within any country, and from here one navigates to another country by clicking on the respective country name in the menu bar.
This option to do a cross-country navigation, chapter by chapter, has been designed to allow the user to jump to another country - with one click - without the need to perform a separate search. This special interactive navigation feature has been added to the Compendium Web site thanks to a specific JavaScript function which establishes the hyperlink on the fly according to the user's selection.
In fact, to make the multilateral linking possible, the title and filenames of the 48 files constituting a country profile have been constructed using the following scheme: <country-chapter.html>. For example, "austria-41.html" refers to the file of the sub-chapter 4.1 of the Austrian profile. By clicking on the hyperlink [FRANCE] on the horizontal scrollable menu bar (see above Figure 1) the variable -"france" is passed to a JavaScript function which:
To have achieved the same effect through hand-coded hyperlinks, more than ten thousand of them would have had to be created.
Although the cross-country navigation allows the user to access information on a specific topic for different countries, it does not gather the data on one screen. One of the features made available in the Compendium, is a COMPARATIVE VIEW option located on the horizontal menu bar. This feature offers an overview of national cultural policy information which is readily quantifiable or synopsised, such as public expenditure in culture or cultural policy priorities. The data has been prepared specifically for this feature, thus synthesising or complementing the actual text of the country profiles. For each topic, the users can select one, several, or all countries in relation to individual information needs.
For example, the priorities of state cultural spending in the three Baltic States are displayed in Figure 3.
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| Figure 3: Display result of the comparative view option |
This comparative view feature is possible thanks to a small Microsoft Access database which is searched using Active Server Pages (ASP), a server script commonly used for display database information. Since this code is processed on the server and returned as plain HTML text, even browsers which do not support JavaScript or ActiveX can view the result pages in HTML.
The database for the comparative view in the Compendium contains an individual table for each theme. When the user clicks on the SEARCH DATABASE button, the selection of a theme and countries is sent to an ASP file. This file is used to perform an SQL query and redirect the information to another ASP file which establishes a connection to the database on the server. In response to the SQL request, an HTML page with a table like that displayed in Figure 3 will be produced.
Another means of accessing the information contained in the Compendium is a full text search function which is accessible via the option SEARCH in the horizontal menu bar.
The search engine complements the table of contents offering natural language searching which is particularly helpful when looking for specific concepts which are not covered in the thematic outline such as "access to culture", specific sectors such as "museums", proper names, and so on.
The search result consists of specific sections (i.e. chapter, sub-section or sub-sub-section) of the Compendium, presented in the form of a hit list which is ranked according to the relevance of the text to the query. For example, if the search expression appears several times in a section, it receives a higher score than if it appears only once, etc.
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| Figure 4: Example of a search result presentation |
When clicking on any of the results, the relevant section will be displayed with the search term(s) highlighted in colour so that users identify it easily.
Full text searching is executed by means of the Verity Search Engine 97. Verity Search 97 - also marketed as Verity Information Server - is one of the top corporate search retrieval products. It was considered innovative when it was first introduced and remains highly competitive today. In May 2002 Verity, Inc. released a new version called Verity K2 Developer [11].
Verity 97 allows the definition of so called "zones", specific sections within an HTML document to which searches can be limited. This special feature is indeed necessary for the Compendium in which the presence of the scrollable table of contents in each chapter (see above Figure 2) must not distort retrieval results. Thanks to Verity Search 97 text parts which are relevant for searching are indicated with specific HTML tags, so that accurate search results can be achieved. Featuring a powerful, integrated scripting language, easy content indexing, and accurate and precise retrieval, the Verity Search 97 search engine provides the functionality required to conduct a fine-tuned search such as exact phrase searching, support of Boolean operators, and proximity searching.
It also provides the means to define synonyms to extend the retrieval scope for a given term. Thus, searching with the term "European Union" also retrieves documents containing "EU", etc. Within the Compendium, the adaptation of the search engine for synonyms has been used in particular for different spellings and word forms, and only in a limited way for related concepts; the latter would contradict the intuitive understanding of natural language searching in comparison with an explicitly controlled vocabulary.
Each country profile can be downloaded in its totality in PDF format. This option is provided via the DOWNLOAD button on the main menu at the very top. Additional or original language versions of the profiles are also available as PDF files.
Compendium Web server activity is being monitored with Webtrends [12] software. During the first five months of 2002, the Compendium Web site logged an average of 70 user sessions per day.
The reaction of users, gathered via the feedback form on the Compendium Web site has been very encouraging and positive. Users' questions mostly concentrated on the absence of a certain country profile rather than on technical enquiries. Such feedback, which is channelled to the relevant authorities, clearly demonstrates the need for this type of information service. Participation in the Compendium project is voluntary and interest in taking part is expressed by a country via its national delegate to the Steering Committee for Culture of the Council of Europe.
Reactions from users do not only refer to the fact that there is finally a tool which can comprehensively answer questions on national cultural policies in Europe. They also concern the design and access modalities. In this context, the Compendium was selected "Web site of the month" by the British journal Information World Review in 2001 [13]. In July 2002, the Compendium was awarded the Best Practices Award for Social Sciences which is organised by the Department of Anthropology of the University of California and which identifies social science sites of high quality on the Internet [14].
During the second half of 2002 the Web site of the Compendium will be further developed, bearing in mind its imminent enlargement by additional countries.
New interactive features will be added such as:
The Compendium is a user-friendly service which monitors cultural policies in Europe and places relevant information at the fingertips of the interested public. It offers a variety of access and retrieval options, and has the potential for integrating further information sources.
At the end of February 2003, a new edition of the Compendium replaced the one described here. This version comprises not only new content - the thematic structure has been enlarged and deepened and five more country profiles have been added, including that of the UK - but also a revised design and new functions. An additional menu guides the user more easily, complemented by an online "How to use" help section. Of particular interest to the readers of this article might be the new interactive cross-country printing feature which matches the cross-country navigation option. When printing a specific chapter of a country profile, users can add the corresponding chapters of other countries, thus customising their own report.
Gesa Büttner
Information Manager
Cultural Policy and Action Department
Directorate General IV
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
France
URL: <http://www.coe.int/Culture/>
Email: gesa.buttner@coe.int
Phone: +33 388 41 2642
Fax: +33 388 41 3782
Gesa Büttner works as information manager in the Cultural Policy and Action Department of the Council of Europe providing information services to internal and external users.
Joerg Torkler
Development Director
MEDIANALE-GROUP
Blücherstr. 5
D-53115 Bonn
Germany
URL: <http://www.medianale.com/>
Phone: +49 228 9140877
Joerg Torkler works as freelance Internet consultant and runs the Web design agency MEDIANALE-GROUP in Bonn, Germany.
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For citation purposes:
Büttner, G. and Torkler, J. "The online Compendium: a web-based information system on cultural policies in Europe", Cultivate Interactive, issue
8, 15 November 2002
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue8/compendium/>
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< - cultural policies - national information - co-operation - cultural indicators - information system - information retrieval - cultural policy database - information service - >
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