The Project “Bulgarian Online Encyclopedia. Connected and Accessible Encyclopedic Knowledge” No. BG-RRP-2.017-0023 Contract No. PVU-45 of 06.12.2024 /BG-RRP-2.017-0023-C01/Procedure BG-RRP-2.017 for Financing of research projects in the field of green and digital technologies has been completed. The main goal of the Project implemented at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in partnership between the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (IICT) and Bulgarian Encyclopedia Scientific Information Centre (BESIC) is to fill a gap in Bulgarian public and cultural space opened due to the lack of reliable information online, which can be accessed not only by students, researchers, but also by the general public. The project will contribute to the digitalization of the scientific environment and scientific research in Bulgaria and will ultimately ensure a higher quality of digital life.
In a year, the research team at BESIC, in cooperation with external consultants within the project, have updated over 7,000 encyclopedic articles. 13 researchers and over 60 consultants from various institutes at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 6 universities and several professional organizations, including the Sofia Bar Association, participated in the online encyclopedic content’ creation and editing. This was announced by Dr. Ralitsa Geleva-Tsvetkova, Editor-in-Chief at the BESIC and head of the Scientific Information Center’s team, during a Third Information Day on the Project, which took place on May 27, 2026. “With mutual understanding, compromises and by building a joint friendly team with colleagues from the IICT, we managed to create the backbone, structure, software for the digital platform, and the Bulgarian online encyclopedia’s content – with the hard work of researchers, authors and consultants,” summarized Dr. Geleva-Tsvetkova.
The functionalities of the newly developed website of the Bulgarian Online Encyclopedia, which is currently tested, were demonstrated by developers Tsveti Alexandrova and Stefan Shkenderov. The logo of the Bulgarian Online Encyclopedia was created by the web designer Maya Petrova, editor at BESIC. The website, based on the WordPress platform, has a mobile version for all devices, including phones and tablets. Several types of search for encyclopedia articles are provided – by a whole word (or by its beginning), which visualizes results directly related to the searched word, as well as related articles; by letter and by category (11 main and many subcategories), with the articles arranged alphabetically. References expand the search to other articles, and through breadcrumbs technology in the navigation field, all articles to which the user has been directed after the initial search can be tracked. In addition, there is an option for sharing articles on social media, as well as a feedback form for each published article.
Details about the construction of the platform and databases of the Bulgarian Online Encyclopedia were presented during the Third Information Day by Dr. Zhivko Angelov (IICT). Currently, three archives have been digitized in a specialized web server – with scanned photos from the BESIC’s archive, with OCR-scanned and recognized print publications, and a relational database with the articles. In the relational database, the articles are distributed in 724 sections, covering all areas of scientific knowledge, and in 45 types. It consists of tables and allows editing, searching and filtering of records according to various criteria, as well as HTML formatting of articles before they are published. Data is visualized in a test website, also built within the project. In addition, a temporary technology has been developed for the transfer of articles edited with a text editor to the database.
The main challenges facing the team at the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies and the solutions achieved were presented by Prof. Kiril Simov (IICT). Along with the new website providing access to the encyclopedic information, an ecosystem of software components necessary for data processing of text files, images, audio files and 3D modeling, which the website is also planned to offer at a later stage, have been developed. Latest technologies and good practices from foreign-language online encyclopedias were used in its creation.
Along with the development of methodological guidelines, a dictionary of over 30,000 encyclopedic articles was defined at the beginning of the project using the “Bulgarian Encyclopedia A–Z” publication (2005, under the scientific editorship of Academician Evgeni Golovinski) as a source. “The two teams gave their best and achieved very good synchronization,” said Prof. Simov. “The project is now at its end, but the real work of testing and long-term development of the software tools is yet to come,” he added.
“Bulgaria was one of the few countries without a national online encyclopedia. The goal of the Project was to create an accessible, intuitive digital platform for everyone by digitizing and processing Bulgarian Encyclopedia Scientific Information Center’s rich archive throughout its 70-year history,” commented Prof. Ivan Lirkov, who managed the Project at the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies. The developed software is based on the national digital infrastructure for the preservation of linguistic, cultural and historical heritage CLaDA-BG.
After completion of the Project, Bulgarian Encyclopedia Scientific Information Centre will continue to supplement the content of the Bulgarian Online Encyclopedia’s platform and will seek opportunities for financing its sustainable development.
