The name space as a cultural need

Abstract

MaNDA (Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute) serves as an institution aggregating digital information. Its another task of equal importance is to establish and maintain the national name space. The national name space may be realised by uniting existing data files of major cultural heritage institutions in a coordinated manner. The creation of name spaces based on national languages has already started in all developed countries. Name spaces represent a semantically structured system of proper names and common names expressed in the relevant national languages, and are accessible on the web. They comprise much bigger data files than the vocabulary laid down in traditional, monolingual, explanatory dictionaries. The main reason for this is that the national name space includes – in addition to geographical names, names of persons and institutions – professional terms as well. Being accessible for all on the web, the Hungarian national name space is also going to serve Hungarian-language users living outside the borders of Hungary.