Prospects

The adaptation to an integrated database management system would make it feasable to connect the DBSR with the national and international telecommunication networks. It would substantially expand the free flow of information about society in the newly independent states.

The entire social science community is being transformed by the technological innovations in computing and network communication. Modern technology has given a great impetus to the modernization of the DBSR.

The main effort will be directed towards the following goals:

• universal and accessible service for users, creation of the information retrieval system, establishment of an integrated database of stored studies, implementation of interactive methods of information access;
• mobility of data which presupposes observation of the standards of storage, allowing input, retrieval, and information exchange, as well as the protection of intellectual property;
• unified telecommunication network connecting various centres where sociological data are stored and analyzed and giving access to technical and informational resources of the DBSR;
• international cooperation and co-ordination of efforts aiming at including the DBSR into the world-wide network of archives and banks of sociological data.

Apparently, extensive projects like this require certain technological standards and a certain amount of time. That is why DBSR is presented at the server of GESIS before the conditions for an own internet presentation have been created.