The International Information Centre for Terminology (Infoterm) was founded in 1971 by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

. Its goal is "to support and co-ordinate international co-operation in the field of terminology."Infoterm website
Vienna, 2011. Accessed 2012-06-14. Infoterm members are national, international and regional institutions, organizations, networks and specialized public, semi-public or other non-profit institutions engaged in devising and standardizing terminology. Members are drawn from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.

History

Since the early 1930s in

Wieselburg Wieselburg (Central Bavarian: ''Wieslbuag'') is a town in Lower Austria, Austria, located near the River Erlauf. Its name roughly translates to castle where two rivers meet, as there are two rivers that run together to create the Erlauf. Its popu ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, industrialist

Eugen Wüster Eugen Wüster (10 October 1898 – 29 March 1977) was an industrialist and terminologist. Career Wüster became enthusiastic about Esperanto when he was 15, soon coming to the fore as an Esperanto translator and as the author of various monog ...

led a private centre studying terminology as part of his engineering firm. His research on international technical communication resulted in the 1936 founding of the Technical Committee for Terminology Standardization of the

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in A ...

(ISO/TC 37). During the 1950s and 1960s Wüster formulated a general theory of terminology and was a pioneer of terminological standardization. In 1951 the

Austrian Standards International Austrian Standards International (formerly german: Österreichisches Normungsinstitut), abbreviated ASI, is a standards organization and the ISO member body for Austria. History Its predecessor organization, the ''Österreichischer Normenaus ...

(ASI) made Wüster general secretary responsible for its terminology principles and coordination efforts (the

ISO/TC 37 ISO/TC 37 is a technical committee within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that prepares standards and other documents concerning methodology and principles for terminology and language resources. Title: Terminology an ...

technical committee). As a result of his pioneering activity, in 1971 UNESCO signed a contract with ASI establishing Infoterm as an international organization; from that year until 2008 Infoterm would assume guidance of the secretariat that Wüster had led for its first 20 years. After Wüster's death in 1977, his fame as the father of terminology science gained widespread currency, and Infoterm took control of his legacy in 1982. In 1996 Infoterm became an independent international non-profit scientific association and established the Eugen Wüster Archive at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...

Infoterm activities

Infoterm aims to coordinate terminological cooperation internationally to facilitate subject-area communication and knowledge exchange, enabling all who are active in a particular field to participate. Its main areas of action are international collaboration on terminology, terminology policy, legal aspects of terminology data (copyright), theory and methodology of structured content (terminology database management) and terminological standardization.

Eugen Wüster Prize

From 1997, Infoterm began awarding the now triennial Eugen Wüster Prize to recognize outstanding performance in the field of terminology.Terminology Awards
Infoterm, 12 October 2011. Accessed 2012-06-14. Prize winners have included: * 2010: Sue Ellen Wright (USA) and Klaus-Dirk Schmitz (Germany)Eugen Wüster Prize 2010 to Prof. Sue Ellen Wright Ph.D. and Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dirk Schmitz
22 September 2010. Accessed 2012-06-15. * 2007: Alan K. Melby (USA) and Maria Teresa Cabré (Spain)Dr. Alan Melby Receives the Prestigious Eugen Wüster Prize
4 October 2007. Accessed 2012-06-15. * 2004: Robert Dubuc (Canada) and Amelia de Irazazabal Nerpell (Spain) * 2001: Juan C. Sager (United Kingdom) * 1998: Christer Laurén (Finland) * 1997: Heribert Picht (Denmark)

Infoterm and the ISO

Infoterm is represented on ten committees or subcommittees of the

: *

ISO/IEC JTC 1 ISO/IEC JTC 1, entitled "Information technology", is a joint technical committee (JTC) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Its purpose is to develop, maintain and pr ...

and its subcommittees JTC 1/SC 32 and JTC 1/SC 36 * TC 12 and TC 46/SC 4 *

and its subcommittees TC 37/SC 1, TC 37/SC 2, TC 37/SC 3 and TC 37/SC 4

Infoterm and Esperanto

Since 1988 Infoterm has maintained regular contact with the Esperanto world
Kio estas TEC?
' ("What is the TEC?"), 30 April 2005, Terminologia Esperanto-Centro. Accessed 2012-06-15. through ''Terminologia Esperanto-Centro'', the terminology centre of the

World Esperanto Association The Universal Esperanto Association ( eo, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, UEA), also known as the World Esperanto Association, is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with 5501 individual members in 121 countries and 9215 th ...

, known by its Esperanto initials UEA. After many years of friendly relations, the UEA joined Infoterm as an associate member in May 2011 with the signing of a co-operation agreement. Goals include exchanging information, mutual support and joint activities for projects, meetings, publications and so on, especially in the field of terminology.

References

{{Authority control Terminology UNESCO