Project FAQ

The Encyclopedia is “Open Access”. What does this mean?

“Open Access” is commonly understood to mean unrestricted online access to scholarly publications. Therefore, all the content readers find in 1914-1918-online is accessible free of charge or other limitations. Nevertheless, for purposes of copying and distributing articles some rules do still apply. These rules are described in the terms of the Creative Commons License.

All articles are published under the Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany-CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). What does this mean?

The Creative Commons (CC) License (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany-CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) allows you to share and distribute material for non-commercial purposes, as long as the material is not modified in any form and the source is appropriately cited. For more information on CC-licensing, please visit this site.

Are articles in “1914-1918-Online” fully citable as academic publications?

Each article in “1914-1918-online” is a self-contained publication. All articles are labelled with a recommended form of citation and are fully citable as scholarly publications. The Bavarian State Library guarantees the long-term, error-free storage of the digital information in the encyclopedia. All authors receive full recognition.

All articles are subject to a full two-staged academic review. During the first stage, manuscripts are reviewed by the responsible Section Editor. During the second stage, manuscripts are assessed by an External Referee or by one of the General Editors.

How do the Filter Options for the Image Database work?

Each image in our database is linked to one or more articles. To see which articles feature a specific image, click on the image and check the "Featured in Articles" section on the right-hand side of the screen.

The images themselves are not tagged individually. Instead, the filter options (Region, Subject, Theme, Type) apply to the metadata assigned to the articles featuring the images.

To search for keywords, use the Search Bar (e.g., search for "Poster"). If you filter by Region, such as "Argentina," the results might not be as expected. For example, you might see two French loan posters. This happens because the articles featuring these images, "Post-war Economies" and "Post-war Economies (France)," also mention Argentina and are tagged with "Argentina" in the metadata, which transfers to the images.

Similarly, selecting the subject "administration, civil service" will show you all images featured in articles related to civil service. For more information on the encyclopedia’s taxonomy and subjects, see below.

Can I use the images from the Image Database?

Direct download of individual images is not permitted. Each image includes a description, a source reference, and copyright status information. Where possible, we provide a link to the website hosting the image. However, you are responsible for checking the copyright status and ensuring you can download and use the image for your intended purposes from the provider's website.

What are the Subjects listed in the Metadata?

The "Subjects" listed in the metadata provide a thematic categorization of the encyclopedia’s articles. A comprehensive three-level taxonomy, consisting of over 200 keywords, was specifically compiled for the encyclopedia. This taxonomy moves from general themes to specific topics. For instance, an article might be tagged with “Warfare and the Military” at the first level, “Land Warfare” (as opposed to “Naval Warfare” or “Air Warfare”) at the second level, and “Trench Warfare” at the third and most specific level. Clicking on a subject allows you to view other articles that are tagged with the same subject, showing you thematic connections to articles you may not have expected.

What are Key Locations listed in the Metadata?

Key locations are places mentioned in each article that are relevant to its content. They are shown on the map next to the article and are listed in the metadata below the article. Clicking on a key location, either in the map or in the metadata, allows you to view other articles that mention the same place. This geographical vantage point opens new navigational routes through the encyclopedia and introduces you to articles you may otherwise not have come across.

What does the Classification Group in the Metadata mean?

The Classification Group categorizes the article. There are a number of possible classification groups, including “Person”, “Event”, “Survey Article (Regional)” or “Regional Thematic Article”. For more information on the different types of articles in the encyclopedia, please see the Introduction, written by the General Editors.

Every article has GND subject headings in its metadata. What does this mean?

GND (Gemeinsame Norm Datei) is a controlled keyword vocabulary that is used in all research libraries in Germany. These keywords guarantee correct intellectual semantic indexing and therefore enable you to find relevant literature about the same topics in various German-language libraries. We provide links to the most important library-catalogues on every article of this encyclopedia. Searching with GND keywords is the most reliable search method, because it unites synonyms in one expression (e.g. "First World War" and "Great War") and includes books that have metaphoric titles such as "In Europa gehen die Lichter aus" (“The Lights go off in Europe”) or "All Quiet on the Western Front". At the same time the use of controlled vocabularies facilitates automatic or manual cross-linking from other online resources to relevant articles in this encyclopedia.

Every article has Library of Congress subject headings in its metadata. What does this mean?

LC Subject Headings (Library of Congress Subject Headings, or LCSH) is a controlled keyword vocabulary for English-language libraries, also applied internationally. Library of Congress Subject Headings have a different structure to the German GND, often combining fixed blocks of semantically linked subject headings such as "World War, 1914-1918--Great Britain" or "World War, 1914-1918--Medical care--France". Searching with LCSH has the same advantages as described above for GND keywords, uniting synonyms and including metaphoric titles. We also provide links to the most important English speaking and international library-catalogues using LCSH (e.g. Library of Congress or WorldCat, which unites catalogues of various libraries containing approximately 2 billion bibliographical entries in 470 languages).

Every article has Rameau subject headings in its metadata. What does this mean?

Rameau (Répertoire d'autorité-matière encyclopédique et alphabétique unifié) is a controlled keyword vocabulary for French-language libraries, also applied across the francophone world. The structure of Rameau keywords is very similar to that of LCSH and features the same advantages as described above. We provide links to the BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France) and use Rameau in addition to GND and LCSH in our automated searches in catalogues such as WorldCat in order to supply you with comprehensive international literature on the topic you have been reading about in our encyclopedia. Additionally, we guide you to the actual catalogues so that you can not only view the bibliographical information, but also actually access the books, either electronically - if available - or order them directly at your nearest library.