rethinking a genre. accelerating encyclopedic knowledge into action on the example of COVID19

COVID19 is a fire accelerator.
In this talk , the author invites for a joint journey rethinking the genre towards an action driven approach.

She discusses the role of encyclopedic knowledge contributing to deal with the current pandemics , outlining related examples of the BiodCultural Diversity Index and the COVID19 cartography. These purpose driven project results from a transatlantic, cross-sectoral collaboration with Elian Carsenat (FR, NamSor) and Dario Rodrighiero  (US, MIT CWS, metaLab (at) Harvard), operationally starting during COVID19 lock down in Austria. It applies the Actor-Network Theory ( M.Callon, B.Latour) creating a new way of looking at social ties.  This method to study the human dynamics that characterize everyday life relies on the way in which human and non-human actors can be connected, at different scales, from microorganisms to the entire society.

The collaboration led to various artistic as well as scienitifc results, such as Paper Submission for Leonardo Journal, Presentation in Deep Space at Ars Electronica Festival 2020, DARIAH Theme application 2020/2021 to further the results towards an easy accessible museum „object“, using public, hi-resolution screens.

The examples given focuses on the following issues:

1) Knowledge and it’s representation in encyclopedias, mainly looking into biographical and prosopographical data and lexicographical products.

2) Accessing encylopedic knowledge in a challenge driven complex world.

3) Applying encylopedic knowledge to accelerate it into humanity centered action.

She points our attention towards:

1) Purpose driven co-creation networks

2) Non-linear research

3) Current and future challenges for lexicographers.