Draft introduction to my personal databases (At this point in time, this manual is unfortunately rather incomplete).
Parallel with, and as a natural part of the research process, I have build a complex of data tables containing references to publications on South Africa, general professional literature, newspaper articles, chronologies, institutions and reference persons, research concepts, research notes, and research funding. In combination, they constitute a useful tool for African Studies, History, Development Research and related disciplines. The following databases are (more or less) accessible via Instant Web Publishing. Some of them will open automatically in a specific layout, others can be opened by choosing the guest account, and some will require a password. In this instance, the Account/Username will most often be “visitor” and the password one of those used elsewhere on the website. If you need a password, contact me. Only those databases that are open for work at any given moment can be accessed. If you want other tables opened, "skype" or e-mail me. Access also depends on your computer's security setup. You must be able to access, not only the usual port 80, but also port 591-599 on my computer/home server.
In due course, the following databases will be put on the web:
About the databases:
A short introduction to the non-fiction database litSA.
LITSA is a research database, which contains partly annotated literature references to South African social conditions and history. It is primarily built on literature dealing with the history of the freedom movement and the trade unions, the historiographical debate, economic backgrounds of race discrimination, the reform policy and the democratic transformation process. The database consequently has its strongpoints dealing with books related to South African history writing and historiography, economy and politics, the labour movement, Danish books on apartheid, periodicals, international solidarity, resistance culture, academic discussions, higher education, race relations, ANC, the Communist Party and the liberation struggle. On the other hand, the database contains less literature on local history, ethnicity, language relations, anthropology, geography, archaeology and foreign relations. LITSA is one out of a complex of databases, which also contains related tables with facts on South Africa, including chronologies, a list of the apartheid legislation, lists of abbreviations, word explanations, biographical information on authors, address lists, and facts on research funding.
The documentation on South Africa is better than on any other country in Africa. Unlike the rest of the continent South Africa cannot, at least when it comes to the academic sphere, be considered an ordinary third world country. During several generations White South Africa has been capable of financing and organising the necessary apparatus of academics, journalists, statisticians, archivists and librarians, required to create and maintain a broad track of information on social activities and life experiences. Any catalogue of South African authors will confirm that knowledge-power in that country was reserved for the white community until recently. This does not mean however that the problems of the black majority have not been dealt with. On the contrary, the literature clearly reflects principal problems of race and class. Moreover, a gradually growing number of publications have been written by Africans, Indians, and Coloureds and on top of that comes the progressive exile literature. Earlier, "forgotten," unpublished works by Black authors have also begun to surface. Because of the international nature of "the great story" of South Africa, not only during the last few years, but also through the colonial ties of the past, much relevant research material are scattered over a great deal of countries, universities, archives and libraries. At the same time, most conventional bibliographies predominantly contains monographs and other complete works and only seldom the necessary mix of official documents and sources, debating articles, activist input or research relevant conference papers. Together these problems make the sharing of research bibliographies and personal databases important.
LitSA contains more than 6000 items and is currently updated. The format is FileMaker. The database was originally developed in dBase IV, later translated to MS Access and even later to FileMaker. The value of this kind of personal research database, compared to larger library catalogues, lies in the representation of many different types of materials from a large range of deposits, a focus that covers a not too broad area of interest, the annotations and notes included, and the proven usefulness of the materials listed. I hope that this database will be useful for both students, academics, journalists and others. The database form implies that no special mutual order exists between entries/index-cards, but that self-chosen combined criteria can be used for any kind of inquiries. The field names of the database have been chosen mainly after inspirations from The Danish Royal Library database, REX, and from an early Revelation-based database of the Scandinavian institute of African Studies.
Field names are: Author, Title, Source, Publ. Year, Pages, Key Words, Annotation, Publ. Type, Library, Notes, Use in Work. In the full access version, the database also contains fields for order of priority, history, usability, etc. The Key Words field is not yet fully updated in English; some key words are only in Danish. The idea with such a field structure is of course, to make it possibly to sort, make combined search patterns and separate subsets of information for specific purposes. This means that you can ask for works by a certain author, a partially known book title, a certain periodical, working papers from a specific research centre or publishing firm and you might be able to see in what library the book is placed.
Subject words in English (not fully updated yet), can be, for instance: Apartheid, anthropology, liberals, radicals, political economy, late apartheid reform policy, historiography, black politics, capitalism, ideology, sociology, race relations, RDP, GEAR, foreign policy, rural areas, trade unions, economics, theory, statistics, mining industry, migrant work, Afrikanerdom, colonialism, colonialism of a special type, the region, 20s, 70s, ANC, ICU, SACTU, SACP, NP, UDF, urban areas, development research, political consignments, organisations, political parties, research discussion, economic growth, strikes, protest, education, suppression, whites, social structure, bantustans, homelands, international solidarity, AAMs, middle class, business, consciousness, influx control, Wiehanh, liberalism, Marxism, Buthelezi, Mandela, nation and class, tourism, women, feminism, sex, intellectuals, universities, study techniques, writing techniques, methods, methodology, sanctions, everyday life history, military history, health history, transformation process, human rights, nation and class, the church, social psychology, identity, ethnicity, the state, racism, Sweden, Denmark, aid, and a great many others, plus combinations of these words.
Search on subject words in Danish could be: Historiografi, liberale, radikale, transformationsprocessen, udviklingsforskning, statistik, mineindustrien, migrantarbejde, menneskerettigheder, segregation, afrikanerdom, regionen, kolonialisme, 1800-t, 30erne, 80erne, ANC, ICU, PAC, BC, SACTU, SACP, NP, UDF, racerelationer, racisme, kirken, staten, byområderne, landområderne, udviklingsforskning, politiske partier, organisationer, forskningsdiskussionen, økonomi, vækst, sanktioner, strejker, protest, uddannelse, universiteter, undertrykkelse, vold, koloni, frontier, hvide, socialstruktur, bantustans, homelands, international solidaritet, hverdagshistorie, medicin, sundhed, mellemklassen, erhvervslivet, militæret, etnicitet, identitet, bevidsthed, socialpsykologi, indflytningskontrol, Wiehanhrapporten, liberalisme, marxisme, Buthelezi, Mandela, NGOer, nation og klasse, skønlitteratur, kultur, turisme, kvinder, zuluer, Natal, Cape, studieteknik, didaktik, skriveteknik, metode, metodologi, etc.
Search words in the field Publ. type (type of material) can be: autobiographies, biography, fiction, periodical, journal title, thesis, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., white paper, working paper, annual report, statistics, anthology, reference work, biography, bibliography, commission report, speech, document, source type, archive, government report, newspaper, article, monograph etc. Or in Danish: Periodikatitel, afhandling, speciale, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., thesis, hvidbog, universitært arbejdspapir, årsrapport, statistik, Antologi, opslagsværk, biografi, bibliografi, fotos, kommissionsbetænkning, statstryk, tale, udtalelse, dokument, kildetype, arkiv, regeringsrapport, avis, artikel, monografi, etc.
A few examples on useful searches (in Danish, sorry): Key Words = transformationsprocessen og Key Words = uddannelse Publ. Type = periodikatitel og Library = CDR (Relevante periodika på CUF). Publ. Type = dansk (Værker på dansk om SA). Publ. = Ravan og Year = 1987 (Bøger udgivet af Ravan Press i 1987). Publ. Type = afhandling og Library = UN (Afhandlinger om SA fra University of Natal). Library = hes og Use in Work = købtsa (Værker anskaffet af Hans Erik i Sydafrika). Library = hes /81 (Fotokopier, perm no. 81 i Hans Eriks kopisamling). Use in Work = anbefalet (Bøger, som det ville være rart at have på institutbiblioteket).
In the field, Library, it will in many cases be indicated in which library the work can be found and in some cases, catalogue designation will be listed. In other cases the field content will refer to a full-text or journal website. The abbreviations below refer to some of these libraries:
AI Africa Institute, Pretoria BL British Library, London Carolina Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek CAS Center for Afrikastudier, København (can be accessed through KB/REX) CDR Center for Udviklingsforskning, København (former, now DIIS) COPRI Center for freds- og konfliktforskning, Kbh. (former, now DIIS) DagHam Dag Hammarskjöldbiblioteket, Uppsala DCISM International Studies & Human Rights, Cph. (DIIS) DPB Danmarks Pædagogiske Bibliotek DCM Det Danske Center for Menneskerettigheder, Kbh. (now DIIS) DUPI Dansk Udenrigspolitisk Institut, Kbh. (former, now DIIS) hes /n /t Fag i H.E. Stoltens fotokopisamling eller arkiv / tekst på Stoltens computer IB Ishøj Bibliotek ICS Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London IDS Institute of Development Studies, Sussex IM Institut for menneskerettigherder, Kbh. ISS Institut for Internationale Studier, Kbh. (former, now DIIS)) KB Det kongelige bibliotek, Kbh. KBF Det kongelige bibliotek, Kbh (former Fiolstræde) KBA Det kongelige bibliotek, Kbh (former Amager) KBsv Kungliga biblioteket, Stockholm Killie Killie Campbell Library, Durban LC Library of Congress MS Mellemfolkeligt Samvirkes Bibliotek (former) NAI Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala Oslo Oslo Universitetsbibliotek OUB Syddansk Universitet / Odense universitetsbibliotek Rhodes Rhodes University, Grahamstown RUC Roskilde universitetsbibliotek, RUb SAL South African Library now National Library of South Africa in Cape Town) SOAS School of Asian and African Studies, London State State Library or State Archives , Pretoria (now National Library of South Africa and NASA) UBA Universitetsbiblioteket, Amager (KB) UCT University of Cape Town Libraries UN University of Kwazulu-Natal Libraries Unisa University of South Africa Libraries, Pretoria UPE University of Port Elizabeth Libraries Upp.Uni. Uppsala Universitet UW University of the Witwatersrand Libraries Web World Wide Web. Download from Internet.
In my opinion, academics and researchers should share their knowledge and sources with as great openness as possible, and as the initiator of this database, I hope that my work can be used by others with interest in South African history and society. However, since the database has been constructed through several years of work in the field of study and could be highly functional for those, who understand to use it, it is my hope that the "code of ethics" outlined below will be followed by frequent users. (i) In the case of extensive use of the database for a single academic or journalistic work, I would find it appropriate, if this is mentioned for instance in a preface or in the footnotes. (ii) The database as a whole should only be distributed to other users or institutions after agreement with the initiator. (iii) Copyright to the database as such is reserved by the initiator, since it might constitute the basis of a future bibliographic publication. (iv) If users should want to expand the database, on the other hand, I would be pleased to receive such a superstructure as feedback, just as I will be prepared to forward updatings of the database.
If you want to receive a full copy of the database on CD, or if you have experienced difficulties while working with it, you are welcome to contact me.
ContAcad
Introduction to the academic contact database ContAcad. (Sorry, only in Danish so far). Kortfattet introduktion til kontaktdatabasen contacad.
ContAcad er en kontaktdatabase, der indeholder oplysninger om akademikere, forfattere og institutioner, der har arbejdet med historie- og samfundsforskning med relevans for Sydafrikanske forhold. ContAcad er et ud af flere dataregistre i et FileMaker-baseret databasekompleks, der også indeholder andre relaterede tabeller med oplysninger om Sydafrika, derunder litteraturreferencer, kronologier, oversigt over apartheidlovgivningen, forkortelseslister, ordforklaringer og oplysninger om danske fonde, der støtter forskning på området. ContAcad er en persondatabase med begrænset adgang for en begrænset brugergruppe. Den kan indeholde følsomme oplysninger og vurderinger, som bør behandles med etisk varsomhed. Der er begrænset adgang til visse felter og layouts. Søgemuligheder og layouts er stadig under udvikling.
Sydafrika er mere veldokumenteret end noget andet land i Afrika. Til forskel fra resten af kontinentet kan Sydafrika, i det mindste for den akademiske sfæres vedkommende, næppe regnes som et 3. verdens land. Det hvide Sydafrika har gennem flere generationer været i stand til at finansiere og organisere det apparat af forskere og andre intellektuelle, journalister, statistikere, arkivarer og bibliotekarer, som nødvendigvis kræves for at skabe og vedligeholde et bredt informationsspor, der kan fastholde det menneskelige samfunds aktiviteter og erfaringer. Det akademiske engagement i Sydafrikas problemer har dog været meget internationalt, hvilket afspejler sig i datalisten. Grundet basens ophavssituation er danskere med interesse for Sydafrikanske forhold nok overrepræsenteret. ContAcad indeholder i visse tilfælde også referencer til pensionerede og afdøde forfattere. Engelsksprogede søgeord findes desværre kun i begrænset omfang indtil videre.
I den publicerede, FileMarker-baserede udgave af basen findes følgende søgbare felter: Name, Department, Institute, Address, City, Country, Notes, Line of Work, Data, References, Relation, Tel.inst,. Fax inst., E-mail inst. Web inst, m.fl.
Meningen med en sådan feltstruktur er, at man kan sortere og udskille delmængder af informationer til specifikke formål. Man kan altså i begrænset omfang lede efter akademikere på en bestemt institution, adresser på institutter, arkiver og biblioteker, deltagere i bestemte seminarer, folk der er interviewet, medlemmer af akademiske og andre organisationer mv. Man kan også kortlægge forskellige forfatteres arbejdsområder og opbygge deres biografier.
Feltet Department indeholder navnet på institut, afdeling, undergruppe. Feltet Institute indeholder navnet på universitet eller hovedorganisation.
Søgeord i feltet Line of work kan bl.a. være: Arkiver, bibliotek, solidaritet, museum eller et særligt emneområde. Feltet Notes indeholder bl.a. biografiske og bibliografiske oplysninger.
Eksempler på søgninger kunne være: Line of work = Arkiver og Country = South Africa (Arkiver i Sydafrika) Institute = Witwatersrand (Relevante forskere på Wits) Country = USA (Amerikanske Sydafrikaforskere og institutioner) Data = Sy1a (Besøgsmål under ophavsmandens Sydafrikarejser)
Good luck!
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