Lingsoft has a demonstrated history in public administration translation, and the Ministry of Finance has been our client since 2006. The Tietotermit glossary is an addition to our traditional service offering for the Ministry of Finance. Published in the National Library’s Finto glossary service in December 2017, the glossary was compiled in cooperation between a working group of ministries and Tietojohtaminen ry. It was also the first time that conceptual schemes were added to Finto ontologies.

Before the compilation of Tietotermit, the core terminology of the industry was scattered and partly outdated. The most important compilation work, Tietohuollon sanasto (TSK 20), was from 1993, when the world was completely different from the perspective of information management. Many fields of knowledge work, even entire branches of science, have become obsolete as technology has taken great leaps forward and print-outs have been replaced by bits. The aim of the Tietotermit project was to create a dynamic, widely used glossary, the amendment of which would be carefully monitored and that would be updated as needed.

What is terminology work needed for?

Defining the concept of ‘information’ is not an easy feat. We all have an intuitive idea of the meaning of the word, but the difficulty of determining an all-encompassing definition for the word will become evident if a multiprofessional group of a couple dozen people sits down to debate on it. The concept of information and the concepts of data, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom closely related to it were perhaps the most ardently debated terms during the glossary compilation process. It is also characteristic of such key concepts that they can only be defined on the basis of prevailing general perceptions – the technological revolution continues to change our perception of information and its structure, which also requires constant updating of the terms.

While defining concepts can be challenging, it is still extremely important. In fact, it is precisely the difficulty of definition that proves the necessity of a common information-related terminology. Language permeates everything in our rapidly changing information society.

“Common terminology is needed for knowledge management, the preparation of legislation on information policy and information management, multiprofessional cooperation, the design of information systems, the utilisation of information, and the introduction and comprehensibility of new technologies.”

Ministry of Finance on the significance of Tietotermit