Conférence pour une
infrastructure
terminologique en Europe

Conferencia para una infraestructura terminol�gica en Europa

Conference for a terminology
infrastructure in Europe

Paris, 13-14-15/03/2000
Maison de l'UNESCO, Salle XI
7, place de Fontenoy
75007 PARIS

Svenska biotermgruppen is a network which was created in September 1999 in order to coordinate Swedish terminology within biosciences such as biotechnology, molecular biology and genetics. The form of organization is about the same as for the Joint Group for Swedish Computer Terminology, a model for cooperation which has proved to be efficient and successful.

Why biosciences?

The idea of creating a terminology network has been welcomed by scientists as well as journalists and terminologists, and the initial work has been caracterized by enthusiasm and active disussions. I see three main reasons to this positive response, besides the fact that until now, there has not been any major attempt to coordinate Swedish terminology within biosciences:

1. The field of biosciences is growing rapidly, which means that new concepts and terms are created every day

2. The field concerns not only scientists, but also, for example, nurses, policemen, insurance companies and the general public

3. The field is international, which in this case means that problems can arise when terms are transferred between languages without anyone analysing the underlying concepts

Organization and financing of the network

The active "inner circle" of Svenska biotermgruppen consists of a working team of 14 scientists, journalists and terminologists. We meet once a month to discuss concept definitions and agree on Swedish term recommendations. Between meetings we continue the discussions via e-mail. In addition to the working team there is a larger group to which the definitions and recommendations are sent (e-mailed) for consideration. All definitions (and less complicated explanations for non-scientists) and term recommendations will be available on a web site.

The first part of the project, Sep 99-Jan 00, is financed by The Swedish Academy, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, The Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research and The Swedish Centre for Technical Terminology.

Outcome and plans

(This section will hopefully change a lot until March!)

The working team has had its first meeting and the e-mail discussion has started. We have discussed the two concepts "functional genomics" and "primer" in detail, and have almost agreed on what terms to chose in Swedish. We have also discussed other concepts in connection with the two concepts mentioned, and some "easier" questions about gender and plural forms. The web site is not yet ready for publication; no terms are inserted yet. After the next meeting (on 15th November) we will try to publish the first version. We do have a message board, though (http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/mbs.cgi/mb823969).

The next two main projects for the network is a) to start working with the basic concepts of the central dogma (i.e. the way from DNA via RNA to protein) and b) to improve the interactive functions of the web site, foremost a better search engine.

We are also in contact with one Finnish and one European bioscience term project and hope to bring about further cooperation.

résumés/resúmenes/abstracts