COMMON HOME DIGITAL LEXICON
Research Centre for Theology and Religious Studies (CITER)
Centre for Studies in Communication and Culture (CECC)
Editor in Chief
Alex Villas Boas
Editors
Adriana Martins
Alfredo Teixeira
Ana Matoso
Inês Espada Vieira
Luís Miguel Figueiredo Rodrigues
Rita Bueno Maia
General Presentation
1. Main goal
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Offer a translation tool for issues related to the Common Home at an introductory literacy level (minor terms), and in an environment that allows the reopening of themes and the development of possible debate forums on each entry. Such dynamics aim to make it possible for an entry to be addressed by several areas, better highlighting the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary proposal of the project «Common Home and new ways of interculturally inhabiting: public theology and cultural ecology in post-pandemic times».
For science to be perceived as a cultural value, it needs to be translated from scientific 'jargon' (critical sense) to common sense. This translation exercise begins through an interdisciplinary effort, where each area is invited to leave its own linguistic structure to assume the discursive context of everyday life.
To help in the transposition of an academic language to a language closer to everyday life, we propose here some guidelines for writing the entries, which also aim to help in the making of a language shared by the project researchers. The guidelines are intended to help and not restrict the author's autonomy. Being an academic project, the Digital Lexicon will also adopt the practice of blind peer review as a way of deepening dialogue and fostering proactive cooperation between peers. Another feature of this tool is that the themes can be expanded with the contribution of new authors on a theme, maintaining the respective authorship of each contribution on a subject, including even qualified dissent on some themes, as an open forum for dialogue on complex issues.
2. Guidelines for authors of the Digital Lexicon of the Common Home
The purpose of the entries is to offer introductory literacy, that is, to help the ideal reader, namely the first-year university student (who in turn is very close to the student who is completing secondary education) to understand what the issue is about the Common Home and the themes surrounding it.
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By reflecting on different possibilities, we arrived at the proposal of some entry typologies, and also in the adoption of the intercultural method of See-Judge-Act present in Laudato si’.
We propose some steps to help organize the entry proposal:
Step 1: Definition of a typology
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a) Conceptual entries: logical and terminological description of a concept or theoretical proposal. Examples: Common Home, Ecotheology, Care, Complexity...
b) Biographical Entries: composed from biographical data of the character with emphasis on participation in the involvement of the ecological issue. Examples: Ernst Haeckel, Arne Naess, Henry Thoureau, Pope Francis...
c) Historical entries: Energy crisis, Conference of the Partis (COP), COP 27, Kyoto Protocol...
d) Other
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Step 2: Proposal for the topic of the entry
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Step 3: SEE
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It aims to present to the reader which problems (social, cultural and/or religious) the entry intends to deal with. Proposals may focus on:
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- description of the problem and its social impact
- context in which the proposal of a concept or theory emerges
- performance context of a historical character/author
- historical events that trigger consequences of ecological impact or change of mentality.
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A guiding question for the author can be: What problem (social, cultural and/or religious or other) does your entry intend to address?
Step 4: Judging
Judging concerns the critical interpretation/literacy of the causes of the problem, with a view to a theoretical intervention proposal.
It is important to take into account that the explanation of the concept and the theoretical proposal has in mind a reader who does not have the theoretical background of an area of knowledge or a line of thought, being important an explanatory clarity through a language of the everyday.
A guiding question for the author can be: How to explain such a concept/theoretical proposal or the importance of an author to a young person of approximately 18 years old?
Step 5: Act
Acting corresponds to thinking how a certain way of thinking can change a way of acting. It would be important to articulate an effort to exemplify the proposal.
A guiding question for the author could be: How can this way of thinking help me to have concrete attitudes that contribute to an improvement in the quality of personal and social life?
Step 6: Bibliography
Indicate an introductory bibliography in the style “to learn more”, in order to help deepen or continue the proposal of the entry.
Step 7: Indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda
Indicate which SDG you believe your entry can collaborate directly?
To make it easier, we provide a summary description of the SDGs.
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Step 8: Connectors
What other topics could be work in the form of an entry in connection with your proposal?
3. Size of entries:
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a) Large: up to 20,000 characters (with spaces) or 8 pages maximum.
b) Medium: up to 10,000 characters (with spaces) or 4 pages maximum.
c) Small: up to 6000 characters (with spaces) or 2-3 pages maximum.
d) Short concepts: up to 3500 characters (with spaces) or 1 page at most.
OBS: eventually such entries can be expanded to the extent that the author deems there is a need to update his data, or there are new perspectives on the same theme of other authors.
Formatting: Times New Roman font; size 12; zero space between paragraphs; double space between lines; upper and left margins 3 cm and lower and right margins 2 cm.
4. Technical issues
- PHP 7.2 or higher
- Apache server
- Mysql database
- Drupal 7
- Multilingual: The Lexicon intends to work with 5 languages: Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian and French. The dynamic will be to receive the original texts and translate them all into Portuguese at first. With the development of the project, it is intended to expand the translation into other languages.
5. Guests
Researchers from the Common Home project and other researchers that the coordination and the Technical-Scientific Council deem relevant for the Lexicon will be invited. The authors will also be invited to do peer reviews.
