Analysis of encyclopaedic relevance on the example of croatian technical heritage

Abstract

The paper questions the encyclopaedic relevance of certain topics, that is, it analyses the reasons that influence the decision whether and to what scope a certain topic is relevant to be included in an encyclopaedic work. It is the assumption that determining encyclopaedic relevance does not necessarily come from historiographic and scientifically determined facts, but is partly based on the subjective estimate of the author or the editor. Such estimate is most commonly the reflection of perception of a certain topic in the public, so it is unavoidably subject to national, ideological and other partialities, but is also conditioned with the potential interest of readers for a certain topic. The paper details the methodology of analysing encyclopaedic relevance of topics from Croatian technical heritage. Those analyses were carried out on a large number of general and technical, international and national, printed and electronic encyclopaedias. The conclusion is that the analysis of encyclopaedic relevance can be a good indicator of the perception of a certain topic in specific areas and periods.