Ukrainian Embroidery as a Type of Document

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to determine the general and specific features of Ukrainian embroidery as a type of carrier of documented information.
 The methodology. We chose the most adequate among the existing general scientific approaches and methods: informational and communicative, sociocultural, comparative, classificational, and terminological. The information and communicative approach made it possible to consider Ukrainian embroidery as a carrier of social information, a channel of communication that ensures the transmission of information encoded in the symbols of embroidery in time and space. It helped prove that each element of an embroidered document carries a certain information load; to substantiate that Ukrainian embroidery has an informative and communicative function: colourful ornaments are not just patterns, but also meaningful signs-symbols that preserve and transmit national cultural traditions for a long time. The sociocultural approach made it possible to investigate the embroidered document as a means of connecting a person to the spiritual ideals and values of the Ukrainian nation; to understand one’s historical roots, national and cultural identity. Its cognitive abilities contributed to the deepening of ideas about Ukrainian embroidery as a unique artistic product, a phenomenon of the spiritual and material culture of the Ukrainian people. The application of the comparative approach made it possible to carry out a comparative analysis of the main modern concepts of the general classification of the document; determine the essential features of the embroidered document; to reveal the specific features of embroidery in different regions of Ukraine by type of ornament, embroidery technique, colour scheme, origin, distribution and residence. The classification approach made it possible to find out a set of general signs of the division of documents into types; detect their presence or absence in the embroidered document; to enrich the modern classification with specific distinguishing features of the embroidered document. The application of the cognitive potential of the specified methodological approaches made it possible to consider Ukrainian embroidery as a whole, to give it the status of one of the types of the document.
 The results. The study of Ukrainian embroidery in the paradigm of documentology significantly enriches the theoretical and methodological foundations of this science, allows to expand the class of authentic documents, to prove the correctness of the definition of the concept of document in the ISO 5127.2017 “Information and documentation” international standard in its broadest sense as “recorded information or a material object, which can be used as a unit in the documentation process”.
 For the first time, the concept of “embroidered document” was introduced into scientific circulation, the genetic feature of which was recognized as embroidery as a way of recording information on a material carrier. On the basis of the basic characteristics of the document classification, the specific features and properties of the embroidered document are determined: on the material basis, it is a fabric document; according to the origin of the material basis — natural, artificial, combined; according to the features of recording information on the carrier — manual, mechanical, technetronic, combined; according to the material structure of the information carrier — tape, card, sheet and non-traditional form; according to the nature of the symbolic forms of information recording and transmission — analog (iconic), symbolic (ideographic), textual, combined; according to the technique of applying signs-images — embroidered. The given arguments seem to be sufficient for the conclusion that Ukrainian embroidery fully meets all the basic features of an authentic document as a carrier of important social information, which should take its proper place in the scientific discourse as an object of documentology and cultural studies.
 The scientific novelty. The innovation of the research results is that, based on the application of the general document classification, Ukrainian embroidery is presented for the first time as a type of document. A new concept of “embroidered document” was introduced into scientific circulation, its scope and content were defined, common and distinctive features of an embroidered document as a specific means of communication were studied. A new promising scientific direction of documentology has been created, which investigates the patterns of development and functioning of the embroidered document as a type of authentic information carrier.
 The practical significance. The results of the research will be useful in practical and educational activities; in fields related to information and documentation; for specialists in decorative and applied art and exhibition activities, museum workers, librarians, etc. The identified specific features of the embroidered document will contribute to the arrangement of its varieties and the establishment of qualitatively new properties.