1547

1997

Lithuania-On-Line Award

TO THE  YEAR OF THE LITHUANIAN BOOK

Editorial

The LOL Golden Cross is not a state medal; it is not given by vote, nor does it grant any privileges or impose responsibilities. It is not an election of the best, for contests and prizes have little to do with human dignity.

Rather, when monitoring Lithuania-on-Line and surveying the events of the week, when adding new services and websites to the search index, one often wants to express gratitude and respect, to respond with a good word, at least, to those who contribute something new, valuable, and beautiful that helps exalt and enrich Lithuania and open her up to the world community of the future.

Especially since, in a world in which payment is based on tangible expenditures, creators are never valued appropriately, and their reward is always less than their achievements. Moreover, the services they perform are frequently free of charge and, therefore, accessible to everyone.

If we may believe the Enlightenment writer Francois de La Rochefoucauld, "To praise sincerely someone's achievements is tantamount to contributing to their work." 

Criteria for evaluation:
usefulness,
novelty in Lithuiania,
accessibility (free of charge, economical, and not having technical constraints),
thoroughness (accurate and exhaustive data, frequent updating),
an attractive layout, clarity,
an option of entering WWW through Opera, Arachne, Linux, older versions of Netscape Navigator, and MS I. Explorer is advisable.

Realizing that it is a challenging task to provide an exhaustive presentation of a subject, we would be glad to hear your comments.     

Vladas Palubinskas

Atspindžiai
•
The Lithuanian written language is now 450

This year in Internet was of vital importance to Lithuania, as Lithuanian information has mainly been presented in Lithuanian. Although it may be taken for granted now, last year English predominated, and there was a strong probability that in the course of time it might become the only language for communication. However, let us start from the beginning.

The start was made not in Lithuania, but abroad by efforts of the intellectuals of the Prussian Lietuvininkai. The strongest influence came from "Catechismus" by M Mažvydas, which was published in 1547. The Anniversary homepage of the first Lithuanian Book has been created in the Multimedia Centre for Humanities. The homepage is constantly updated with new information concerning the subject and has nice design. Alongside historical background, information about the events relating to the anniversary, and reviews of commemorations, there is a beautiful art gallery, and translations of the major topics into English and German. The heart of Lithuanian culture in Internet may be found at the following address: 

http:/daugenis.mch.mii.lt/atspindziai

Outstanding followers of M. Mažvydas

"Lithuania -On- Line", 1997.12.13 / translated from Naujoji komunikacija/