October 2021

Minutes: Meeting of the ISPN Organising Committee on 1 October 2021 via Microsoft Teams

report_ispn

1.    Members of the organising commitee

  • Host: Prof Annalene van Staden (University of the Free State, RSA)
  • Convener: Prof Theodorus du Plessis (University of the Free State, RSA)
  • Coordinator: Dr Chrismi Loth (University of the Free State, RSA)
  • Resident member: Dr Lucie A Möller (University of the Free State, RSA)
  • Joint IGU/ICA Commission on Toponymy:
    • IGU Chair: Prof Cosimo Palagiano (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy)
    • ICA Chair: Prof Peter Jordan (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria / University of the Free State, RSA)
    • Common Vice-Chair: Prof Paulo Márcio Leal de Menezes (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
    • Member of the Steering Board: Prof Peter E Raper (University of the Free State, RSA)
    • Prof Theodorus du Plessis
    • Prof Cosimo Palagiano
    • Prof Peter Jordan
    • Prof Paulo de Menezes
    • Dr Chrismi Loth (secretary of the meeting)

2.    Members present at the meeting

3.    ISPN 2021

ISPN 2021 was hosted from 29 September to 1 October 2021 virtually via Microsoft Teams. The event was deemed a success. Please refer to the post-conference communications for a detailed report on the event.

Future attendance:

3.1.  Prof Jordan is now the Vice-Chair of ICOS and will also promote ISPN amongst that community.

3.2.  There was decreased attendance from local researchers. Dr Loth will reach out to the Southern African members of the Scientific Panel to discuss ways to better promote ISPN locally.

3.3.  Prof Palagiano announces in advance a Conference on Literary, polar and extraterrestrial place nameswhich will be held in Rome at Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei

4.    Conference proceedings

Dr Loth will continue to act as Editor for the publication.

5.    Future collaboration

Both parties (the UFS and the Joint Commission) find the collaboration fruitful and wish to continue the arrangement.

6.    Location

The first virtual ISPN is considered a success. However, the preference remains to host an in-person event. Given the small scale of this symposium it is challenging to budget and plan for a hybrid event. The Organising Committee will therefore decide at the appropriate time to host either a fully in-person or fully virtual event.

The Committee discussed several options as venue for an in-person event.

6.1.  Clarens has become associated with ISPN. However, this venue was reconsidered for several reasons:

6.1.1.    Accessibility. The lack of public transport to Clarens presents a challenge to some delegates, as does the extra cost incurred.

6.1.2.    Cost. The host department (South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies) is required to include a component that focusses on SASL and/or Deaf Studies in all its activities, including the ISPN. It is therefore necessary to make provision for deaf delegates and the associated costs of interpreting in the budget. Interpreters work on-site, which means that their transport, accommodation and subsistence fees are included in their interpreting fees. This, in addition to the fees of an off-campus venue, would result in an unrealistically high registration fee.

6.2.  Other southern African locations:

6.2.1.    Drawing local researchers. The 2017 event in Windhoek has proven that hosting the event elsewhere does not necessarily stimulate local interest.

6.2.2.    Logistics. It is impractical to host the event elsewhere without dedicated support from a secondary host institution.

6.2.3.    Cost. See 6.1.2.

6.3.  University of the Free State, Bloemfontein campus:

6.3.1.    Accessibility. There are local flights available from Cape Town International Airport and OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg) to Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein is also accessible to those delegates that travel by bus.

6.3.2.    Cost. Venues on-campus are free of charge. This mitigates the increased cost of interpreting, as set out in 6.1.2.

6.3.3.    Logistics. The hosting department is situated on campus and has all the necessary support structures in place.

The Committee decided that should an in-person event be viable, ISPN 2023 will be held on the Bloemfontein campus of the University of the Free State, South Africa.

7.    Potential topic for ISPN 2023

The following topic was suggested: “The presence of minority and indigenous languages in urban naming.”

The topic encompasses a range of interesting questions, such as:

  • The rate of change of urban names, and the implications thereof
  • National and municipal regulations regarding urban naming
  • Best practices in urban naming
  • In what way are the presence of minority and indigenous languages important in the namescape?
  • For whom is it important to have their names in the public space?

8.    ISPN Workshop 2023

The concept of a dedicated short course has been abandoned due to the cost factor. The 2021 Workshop charged a reasonable fee (ZAR 500) and was attended well. The format (half-day preceding the symposium) and focus (skills-based) rendered the event successful. Future workshops should be promoted separately and more aggressively amongst the target audience (researchers as well as toponymic practitioners). A topic that will address a local skills gap and also serve international delegates, is the management of toponymic data files. Such a workshop can address issues facing field researchers, such as how to store toponymic data, what aspects and variables are useful and necessary to include, and how to disseminate data (e.g., online databases, dictionaries, etc.).

9.    Conclusion

The co-ordinator will contact the rest of the Organising Committee in the second semester of 2022 to commence arrangements for ISPN 2023.


Report

Sixth International Symposium on Place Names

2021 Standardisation and the wealth of place names – aspects of a delicate relationship 29 September – 1 October 2021

Virtual, South Africa

https://www.ufs.ac.za/2021ispn

The Sixth International Symposium on Place Names (ISPN 2021) was hosted virtually by the Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies (University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa) in partnership with the Joint IGU/ICA Commission on Toponymy. For the 2021 event and going forward, the Scientific Panel has been expanded to include representatives from each of South Africa’s neighbours. The new members are warmly welcomed to the team. For the first time, ISPN also presented a workshop. The Symposium was opened by Prof Annalene van Staden, Head of the hosting department. Prof Peter Jordan handled the closing on behalf of the Commission.

Click here to download the complete report

Click here to download the minutes of the Meeting of the ISPN Organising Committee
on 1 October 2021 14:30-16:00 via Microsoft Teams


II Pan American International Symposium on toponymy – ACHIEVEMENT PROJECT

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FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF RIO DE JANEIRO

IGEO CCMN

GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT

GeoCart – Laboratory of Cartography

II Pan American International Symposium on toponymy

II SIPAT

17 – 19 November 2021

ACHIEVEMENT PROJECT

Rio de Janeiro April

1 –Introduction

1.1 – Relevance and justification

Toponyms – or geographical names – are more than place names on a map. They are an important form of communication, linking local, national and international organizations at all levels of cooperation. Besides, they can be thought of as geographic information which will affect all areas of society, reaching and integrating elements of history, geography, cartography, language, linguistics, culture, tradition, folklore, psychology, politics, geographical indications, people registration services, among others. Toponymy may connect man and the Earth, carrying a strong cultural significance.

Today, place names and names of geographical features assume a high level of importance in practically all areas of society, and are one of the most used ways to access the geographic space, be it in the real world or in analogical or digital representations. They provide an indispensable positioning structure in any spatially organized information system and enable the integration and interoperability of digital data sets. This makes geographical names a powerful tool for essential decisionmaking for politicians and governmental or private managers, at all levels.

The importance of toponyms may be defined by one single question: where did a particular event happen? The mere mention of the name of the place is enough to precisely establish the location.

On the other hand, what is the meaning of a particular toponym? When inaccurately used, geographical names may become a problem, not only for cartographers but to all who need their precise identification. Thus, geographical names require clear, exact, error-free geographical references. The standardization of geographical names at all levels avoids ambiguity and problems caused not only by different languages and writing systems but also within the same systems.

Ever since its creation in 1946, the United Nations have addressed the need for the standardization of geographical names, aiming at providing users and the society in general with consistent geographical names. The UN Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names address all sorts of issues on the theme, preserving the sociocultural and historical value of geographical names, based on renewed concepts. The processing of geographical names in a systematic and coherent way, according to acquired new values derived from technological and sociopolitical changes, will, as a result, maintain a policy of generation, maintenance and availability of these data for all possible users. The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) is mandated to follow up on the implementation of resolutions and to continue activities between the United Nations Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names, encouraging the standardization of geographical names and assisting countries in achieving the standardization of their sets of geographical names. It works on names standardization through 12 Working Groups and Special task teams, as well as through 24 linguistic/geographical Divisions, addressing both general and regional interests.

At national level, standardization is necessary so that all the issues related to geographical names can be defined and made available for the different users of this sort of data.

Such intended achievements highlight the importance of historical collections such as the ones in governmental institutions such as the Arquivo Nacional (National Archives) and the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library), which comprise both cartographic and textual documents allowing the research of past names and their location and the conduction of diachronic studies of geographical names which may reveal linguistic, politic, historical and cultural aspects of a given place.

Thus, II SIPAT constitutes a unique opportunity for the exchange of information, experiences and issues among researchers, besides contributing to increase the visibility of this area, which is so important in the context of geography and other fields to which geographical names relate.

1.2 – Brief history of SIPAT

Encouraged by the UNGEGN the ICA (International Cartographic Association) and the IGU (International Geographic Union created, in 2011, the Joint IGU/ICA Working Group on Toponymy. After four years of an intense program of events, it was confirmed as a Joint Commission on Toponymy. In its Terms of Reference (ToR), it is mandated to “act jointly with IGU/ICA fostering the geographic and cartographic research on all fields involving toponymy” and to “disseminate the scientific knowledge on processing and use of toponyms within geography and cartography”. Thus, the Commission on Toponymy supports and encourages the organization of events such as workshops, symposia, congresses and others, in regional, national and international contexts, providing opportunities for discussions on toponymic research under a multi and interdisciplinary approach, promoting the integration of the various sciences and areas of activity which study, manipulate and use this layer of geographical information.

Thus, from 3 – 5 May 2017, the International Pan-American Symposium on Toponymy (Simpósio Internacional Pan-Americano de Toponímia – SIPAT, in Portuguese) was organized by the Joint IGU/ICA Commission on Toponymy, with the support of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics – IBGE, the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History – PAIGH and of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, through its Program of Post-Graduation in Geography – PPGG/UFRJ and its Laboratory of Cartography of the Geography Department – GeoCart.

92 delegates attended the event, coming from 8 countries – Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Portugal, Argentina, Dominican Republic, South Africa and Italy. 24 oral presentations of papers and 6 invited keynote speeches were delivered. Due to the success of the event, one of the main decisions taken in the closing ceremony plenarium was the organization of a biennial SIPAT. Consequently, we now propose the II SIPAT – Pan American International Symposium on toponymy (Simpósio Internacional Pan-Americano de Toponímia).

1.3. General objective of II SIPAT

The general aim of the SIPAT is to gather researchers, technicians and users of diverse areas of knowledge, not only from Brazil and the Americas, but from all over the globe, in order to promote an extensive exchange of information and to bring different perspectives and point of views to the discussions of issues concerning toponymy and geographical names

2 – PLACE AND DATE:

Place:

Virtual Session

Organization: Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

Date: 17 – 19 November 2021

Hours: 9 a.m to 6 p.m GMT-3 Official languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish

Website: www.even3.com.br/SIPAT2021

3 – SUPPORT

Centro de Referência em Cartografia Histórica -UFMG (Reference Center for Historical Cartography)

Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy

Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística- IBGE (The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics)

GeoCart – Laboratório de Cartografia (GeoCart – Cartography Laboratory)

Instituto Pan-americano de Geografia e História – IPGH (Pan-American Institute of Geography and History – PAIGH)

International Cartographic Association – ICA

International Geographic Union – IGU

Sociedade Brasileira de Cartografia – SBC (Brazilian Cartographic Society)

UNGEGN – United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro: Program of Post Graduation in Geography)

Sociedade Brasileira de Cartografia – SBC (Brazilian Cartographic Society)

4 – ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Prof. Dr. Paulo Márcio Leal de Menezes – GeoCart– UFRJ

Prof. Dr. Manoel do Couto Fernandes – GeoCart– UFRJ

Prof. Dr. Claudio João Barreto dos Santos – UERJ

Dra. Raquel Dezidério Souto – IVIDES.org/ GeoCart UFRJ

MSc. Leila Freitas de Oliveira – IBGE

Nívia Régis Di Maio Pereira – IBGE

MSc . Beatriz Cristina Pereira de Souza Pinto – IBGE

MSc. Ana Cristina da Rocha Bérenger Resende – IBGE

MSc. Tainá Laeta – GeoCart– UFRJ

MSc. Fernando de Souza Antunes – UFRJ

MSc. Kairo da Silva Santos – GeoCart– UFRJ

MSc. Ana Maria Coutinho – GeoCart– UFRJ

Hélio Gouveia Prado MSc – Presidente SBC/ 2ª CBDL

Flávia Renata Ferreira MSc – SBC/ CPRM

5 – SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

International:

Prof. Dr. Peter Jordan – Austria

Prof. Dr. Helen Kerfoot – Canada

Prof. Dr. Cosimo Palagiano – Italy

Prof. Dr. Peter Rapper – South Africa

Prof. Dr. Ferjan Ormelling – The Netherlands

Prof. Dr. Marina Miraglia – Argentina

Prof. Dr. Jörn Seemann – Ball State University

National

Prof. Dr. Paulo Márcio Leal de Menezes – UFRJ

Prof. Dr. Claudio João Barreto dos Santos – UERJ

Prof. Dr. Márcia Maria Duarte dos Santos – UFMG

Prof. Dr. Manoel do Couto Fernandes – UFRJ

Prof. Dr. Maria Cândida Trindade de Seabra UFMG

Prof. Dr. Karylleila dos Santos Andrade Klinger – UFTO

Prof. Dr. Renato Amado Peixoto – UFRN

MSc. Maria Lúcia Villarinhos – IBGE

6 – SUBMISSION OF PAPERS

The submission of papers must be exclusively through the Symposium page, http://www.even3.com.br/SIPAT2021. Papers sent by e-mail will not be accepted.

The papers submitted to the II SIPAT will be appreciated by 2 (two) reviewers, members of the national and international Scientific Commissions of the Symposium. Papers may be submitted in the three official languages: Portuguese, Spanish and English Papers will be submitted in the form of extended abstracts or full papers. They can be submitted in any of the three official languages: Portuguese, English or Spanish.

Paper presentations will be divided into complete oral presentation or short oral presentation.

Papers submitted in both formats that present basic or applied research results may be selected for complete oral presentation. Research presentation papers or the ones showing project stages in progress, in principle, may be selected for short oral presentation.

Full papers may be selected for publication in an issue of the Revista Brasileira de Geografia – RBG.

Full papers not selected for publication in the Revista Brasileira de Geografia – RGB, will be published in the proceedings of the Symposium. Authors of full papers that are not selected for RBG may optionally convert the paper format for publication to an extended abstract for this purpose.

The extended abstracts will be published in the Symposium Proceedings as such.

The Scientific Committee of the II SIPAT reserves the right to approve only the papers that are in conformity with the rules of the event and framed within one of the themes that are part of the II SIPAT.

The themes that the II SIPAT makes available to the authors will be the following:

T01 – Geographic Names and their Identities

T02 – Toponymy on maps

T03 – Indigenous toponymy

T04 – African toponymy

T05 – Toponymy of minority groups

T06 – Toponymic atlas

T07 – Microtoponymy, its implications and applications

T08 – Toponymy in historical documents

T09 – Toponymy and Geographic Information: Spatial Data Structure

T10 – Standardization of geographical names

T11 – Endonyms and Exonyms – the geographical names in international relations

T12 – Toponymy and Education

T13 – Toponymy and Participatory Mapping

T14 – Others

The last theme is for those that are not framed within any of the previous themes.

6.1 – Submission Formats

Papers must be submitted with the participation registration of at least one of the authors. Papers submitted after the deadline will not be published in the Symposium’s media divulgation.

Papers that do not comply with the distributed model will not be accepted.

Full papers

All papers must be linked to one of the themes of the Symposium. A document template for the full papers will be made available by the organization of the event in OpenOffice (.ott) and Word (.docx) formats to be filled out. Full papers must be between 12 and 15 pages long, including bibliographic references and figures. The text must be presented in Times New Roman, size 12, 1.5 spacing.

Extended Abstracts

The extended abstracts will have the same format as the full papers, however, they must present an introduction, materials and methods, an analysis of the results and conclusions, within a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 10 pages. The text must be presented in Times New Roman, size 12, 1.5 spacing. A document template for the extended abstracts will be made available by the organization of the event in OpenOffice (.ott) and Word (.docx) formats to be filled out.

6.3 – Conditions for publication in the proceedings of the event and in the RBG

The II SIPAT Organizing Committee will reject submissions of papers that:

– Constitute plagiarism of academic work already published in any medium;

– Present repeated passages incurring plagiarism in their body of text;

– Do not constitute an academic / scientific contribution;

– Present any type of personal attack to anyone, using offensive and discriminatory words against individuals, nationalities and social groups, as well as using pejorative terms.

-Constitute predominantly explicit ideological political positioning, without concern and attention to the broad theoretical and methodological basis. Science can and must serve as denunciations of exploitation, discrimination, socio-environmental destruction, disrespect for the fundamental rights of citizens, in short, all forms of violence against humanity, provided that it does so respecting the protocols and principles of its performance and knowledge fields. Political / ideological discourse is not a substitute for scientific argumentation based on research oriented according to the precepts of the community to which it refers.

Specifically in relation to publication in the RBG, the following conditions are added:

– The contribution must be original and unpublished, and not being currently evaluated for publication by another journal; and

– The text must follow the standards of style and bibliographic requirements that appear in the guidelines for authors of the Journal Papers in Portuguese, Spanish and English will be accepted. It is necessary to use the model provided by the organization of the event, both for the submission of a full paper and for the submission of an extended abstract. In direct citations, in the body of the text, it is necessary to specify the author, year and page of the citation (only in the case of ipsis litteris citations). All citations of works in languages other than that of the article must be translated, with the excerpt in the original language included in a note.

Illustrations – Maps, tables, graphs and illustrations in general must be presented in files separate from the text, but indicating their location in the body of the text. Scanned images must be presented with a resolution of at least 300 real dpi (not interpolated), in natural size and saved in JPEG format and in RGB colors (red, green, blue). Tables must come in Word (or Libre Office) files; graphs and spreadsheets in Excel (or LibreOffice Calc), always with title and source indication. Materials from digital cameras must have a minimum of 3 megapixels of uncompressed optical resolution (High Definition module). All images must be duly numbered and accompanied by captions and source indication.

It is recommended that the figures used in the papers be mostly original. In the case of the use of figures (or other parts of intellectual works) of third parties, we recommend the prior request for authorization to publish the material, before submitting the paper to the organization of the event. The organization of the event will not be responsible for problems with copyright of third parties.

Abstract – Papers must be accompanied by a summary in the main language and in English, with a maximum of 120 words.

Keywords – Authors must submit up to five keywords, in the original language and in English, representative of the content of the paper.

Notes – Notes must be numbered and indicated at the end of the article. The complete bibliographic reference of the documents or works cited should appear in the References item and not in the notes. Instructions for preparing references – All works cited must be presented at the end of the article, under the title References, according to the standards of the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards – NBR 6023, second edition (ABNT NBR: 6023: 2018). These standards will be provided by the organization of the event.

6.4 – Presentations

All presentations will be broadcast on the Cartography Laboratory channel – GeoCartUFRJ on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/GeoCartUFRJ). There will be two special sessions daily, in the morning and in the afternoon. On the first day, there will be the special opening session and, on the last day, the special closing session, totaling six presentations. Each special session will be held by a guest speaker, lasting 1 hour, with 40 minutes of presentation and 20 minutes for questions. The papers presentations will be divided into a short oral presentation and a complete oral presentation.

Complete Oral Session

Each session will consist of five complete oral presentations, with live and online presentations by one of the authors of the paper, each lasting up to 15 minutes, plus 5 minutes for questions, totaling 20 minutes of presentation. Presenters will be able to use Microsoft PowerPoint, OpenOffice Impress or PDF presentations. If the participant extends beyond 15 minutes, and uses the remaining 5 minutes, there will be no opening for questions.

Short Oral Session

The short oral sessions will consist of pre-recorded videos, sent to the organization by one of the authors of the paper. In this modality, more than one author can participate. However, participation is subject to the time limit for the video, as stipulated by the event organization. The pre-recorded video sent must be between 5 to 10 minutes long, for the presentation in the session. After the playing of the pre-recorded videos, a period of 10 minutes follows, for answering questions asked by chat to the presenters.

6.5– Submission Calendar

1st Call for Papers

April 30, 2021

2nd Call for Papers

June 30, 2021

Final Call for Papers

August 1, 2021

Deadline for submission of papers (extended abstracts and full papers)

September 1, 2021

Acceptance Notice

October 1, 2021

7 – REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION

All registrations must be done through the II SIPAT page: www.even3.com.br/SIPAT2021.

There will be no registration fee; the event will be free.

The submission of papers will only be possible upon registration at the event.

All those registered for the event will be able to participate in all sessions directly through the event platform and will be entitled to a certificate of participation, provided that presence in 75% of the complete or short oral sessions is proven.

The lectures and sessions transmitted simultaneously by the GeoCart channel on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/GeoCartUFRJ) will be free for public access.

However, there will be no issuing of certificates for participants through this channel. Questions may be asked for later reply by the speakers.

Rio de Janeiro, April 20, 2021

Prof. Dr. Paulo Márcio Leal de Menezes

Organizer II SIPAT

https://www.youtube.com/c/GeoCartUFRJ