The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: A Developed Dynamic Reference Work

Abstract

The present information explosion on the World Wide Web poses a problem for the general public and the members of an academic discipline alike, of how to find the most authoritative, comprehensive, and up-to-date information about an important topic. At the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), we have since 1995 been developing and implementing the concept of a dynamic reference work (DRW) to provide a solution to these problems, while maintaining free access for readers. A DRW is much more than a web-based encyclopedia, and its scope far exceeds that of an electronic journal or preprint exchange. In this article we document the progress of the SEP toward full implementation of the DRW concept. We discuss the fiscal challenges posed by our desire to maintain free or low-cost access to the contents of the SEP, and we consider technological challenges posed by the desire to stay abreast of technological developments in document markup while making it easy for authors and subject editors to write and maintain entries representing the very best scholarship.

Defining Slums Using Multidimensional and Relational Properties: A Dynamic Framework for Intervention

“…that define it (as an object (Cordier & Tijus, 2001)). Process properties are therefore a documentation of slums' existence and will include: (1) the age of settlement and social evolution -history and defining events, social consolidation and established social structures, and spatial consolidation of place -are vital information on how it reached the stage it is and social and spatial dynamics at play (Hamdi, 2004(Hamdi, , 2010Maturana, 2014;UN-Habitat, 2003).…”

“…(McLeod, 2014;Sincero, 2012;Veld, 1999and Wojsiszke & Pienkowski, 1991in Cordier & Tijus, 2001. Personality traits are inherent to people and include: the (1) place map: perceptions of the slum by its community -meanings and experiences attached to it, and feelings evoked by these experiences -that are an important in understanding the quality of life of people (Hamdi, 2010).…”

“…These properties are an identity of slums as well as context for all else that capture it, and include: the slum (1) geography -absolute space and location, relative landscape and site conditions, relative position in the city, and slum presentation (visible or hidden) -that influences settlement and livelihood choice and patterns (Davis, 2006;Gulyani & Bassett, 2010), (2) demography -population profile (count, family structures, culture, education, work, political engagement), and socioeconomic enterprise -that frame vital information on the people and their livelihood endeavours (Hamdi, 2010;Kyobutungi et al, 2008;UN-Habitat, 2003), (3) tenure conditions -tenure security, tenancy and ownership, and tenure mix -that are symbolic to dwelling and habitation patterns (Gulyani & Bassett, 2010;Patel, 2011), and (4) poverty conditions -income poverty, non-income poverty, and social exclusion -which are a reality in slums that need to be clearly understood to encourage human development (Broch-Due, 1995;UN-Habitat, 2003).…”

“…This perception has in the past steered most approaches to the management of slums towards their elimination or containment (Hamdi, 2010). Prevailing attitudes since the 1950s, and still common today, include policies of benign neglect by government bodies, who believed slums would disappear with steady economic growth (Arimah, 2010;Njoh, 2003); of forced evictions and demolitions of entire settlements during the 1970s and 1980s which destroyed communities in multiple ways (UN-Habitat, 2003;Arimah, 2010); and the resettling or re-housing of entire slum populations into standardised, planned and over dense inner city estates, or structures outside the city (Abubakar, 2013;Davis, 2006).…”

“…Prevailing attitudes since the 1950s, and still common today, include policies of benign neglect by government bodies, who believed slums would disappear with steady economic growth (Arimah, 2010;Njoh, 2003); of forced evictions and demolitions of entire settlements during the 1970s and 1980s which destroyed communities in multiple ways (UN-Habitat, 2003;Arimah, 2010); and the resettling or re-housing of entire slum populations into standardised, planned and over dense inner city estates, or structures outside the city (Abubakar, 2013;Davis, 2006). These have often been shown to rapidly degenerate into slums or to become gentrified, with the consequent expulsion of the population they were created for (see Hamdi, 2010;Cronin, 2013).…”