The project “Smart Complex of Information Systems of Specialized Biology Lexis for the Research and Preservation of Linguistic Diversity” continues

April 19, 2022

The first quarter of the second year of the project “Smart Complex of Information Systems of Specialized Biology Lexis for the Research and Preservation of Linguistic Diversity” (IMDS) has been an active one for all involved partners. 


Collaborative online meetings between the project teams at the Institute of Horticulture and faculties of VUAS have continued regularly, focusing on refining the information system designed for the collection and research of biological and organism-related terminology. Simultaneously, data entry work is ongoing. At this stage of the project, a database term module has been developed; the development of a plant variety name accumulation module is still planned for the future. Currently, 50131 taxon names from 335 bibliography sources have already been entered into the database. The team is also expanding the translating botanical terminology mobile app, including the development of new sections and functionalities.


In early 2022, project members participated in several conferences: On January 26–27, Silga Sviķe, Sintija Ozoliņa, and Linda Ozola-Ozoliņa presented the paper “Naming of Plants: Names of Rhododendron Cultivars Bred in Latvia” at the XXXII Scientific Readings online conference hosted by Daugavpils University.  In the paper, the authors analyzed the names of rhododendron varieties bred in Latvia, as well as addressed terminology issues in naming rhododendron varieties. Conference programme available here:  https://lasijumi.du.lv/lv/Programma


On 24 and 25 February Gints Jasmonts, Silga Sviķe, and Karina Šķirmante presented their paper “New Information Extracting and Analysis Methodology for the Terminology Research Purposes: The Field of Biology” participated in the “Italian Research Conference on Digital Libraries” (IRCDL 2022), an online conference organized by Italian researchers. Project participants presented the digitization of Pauls Galenieks' Botanical Dictionary in order to add the dictionary’s data to the developed system. Conference programme available here: http://ircdl2022.dei.unipd.it/index.html#schedule


Thanks to the IMDS project, several scientific publications have already been released, including:

  • Stalažs A. (2022) To be or not to be native: from the discourse on the official status of Salix alba to the recommendation to strengthen the protection of marginal populations in Latvia, with notes to related taxa. Journal for Nature Conservation (Scopus, Q1, IF 2.831)
  • Stalažs A., Kosinkina A. (2021) Names of Nature Objects in Street Names: An Interdisciplinary View. Linguistica Lettica (Scopus)
  • Sviķe, S. (2021) Mobile apps as language-learning tools. Challenges, problems and solutions of specialised lexicography (2021) AILA Review, 34 (1), pp. (19-36). (Scopus)


Currently, preparations are underway for the planned international interdisciplinary scientific conference “Linguistic Diversity, Terminology, and Statistics”, which will be held online on November 3–4, 2022. The second call for papers is being prepared, with an abstract submission deadline of July 31, 2022. More info about the conference: https://www.virac.eu/ldts. Researchers in terminology and cross-linguistic studies are especially encouraged to participate.


This research has been funded by the Latvian Council of Science, project “Smart Complex of Information Systems of Specialized Biology Lexis for the Research and Preservation of Linguistic Diversity“. Proj. No. lzp-2020/1-0179.

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