The following document presents the broad outlines of a new publication
currently being developed by the Centre National d'Art et de Culture
Georges-Pompidou, Paris (France). It is also available on our new
WWW server, at http://www.cnac-gp.fr.
We are informing Internet users of this project so as to generate a
discussion and so that your ideas and comments can be used to modify
and enrich our plans.
For more detailed information on the project, please refer to the full
French version (available here in a few days).
You will also find a questionnaire to help us know the people
interested in this publication.
--Daniel Soutif
Directeur du Departement du developpement culturel
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. A project for the Pompidou Center
************************************
1.1 The multidisciplinary approach
==================================
As a place of development and experimentation for all creative
disciplines (literature, music, visual arts, photography, video,
architecture, design, cinema, new technologies), the Centre National
d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou has always prioritized the
multidisciplinary approach. As a venue for exhibitions, meetings,
performances and debates, it has always advocated maximum access for
the general public. But the Center is not only a showcase for modern
creation, it is also a cultural production center in its own right with
its own, distinct publishing policy. For all these reasons, the Center
is in a unique position with regard to multimedia publishing.
The Center is now planning to create a new type of periodical bringing
together a variety of approaches and media. The idea is to extend the
scope of the old publication, Traverses, which looked at man's relation
to his environment, culture and production as reflected in various
themes or problems, and confronted with differing viewpoints and
disciplines. By going further into the new technologies, its successor
will set out to appeal to a younger and more varied audience in
addition to the traditional readership of Traverses, which consisted
mainly of intellectuals, teachers, artists, researchers and students.
1.2. The postulate
===================
The founding principle of this new publication is that we are today
seeing a radical shift in the relations between the different spheres
of knowledge. This is due both to the decline in the opposition between
the "exact" sciences and the human sciences, and to the transformation
of the means of access to knowledge as a result of the new
communication technologies. And yet there remain barriers between the
various disciplines. One of the aims of this publication will be to
explore the multidisciplinary idea in and through the new technologies,
to serve as an experimental platform for the creation of a new arena of
knowledge, capable of setting up interactions between different
disciplines, works and techniques, though without seeking to imitate
the encylopaedia. The idea is not to build a "consensus" between the
arts, sciences, technology and the various schools of philosophy, but
to generate productive tensions of meaning between their different
languages.
1.3. Contents
==============
This periodical will thus go beyond the frontiers running between
culture and society, art and technology, to a level where these areas
of activity interact. Each issue will focus on a major contemporary
issue and will be able to draw on the resources of the Pompidou Center,
with its wealth of written documents, sound archives (interviews,
lectures, music), iconography (the photo library of the museum of
modern art) and video recordings.
The theme - and title - of the first issue, which is currently in
preparation, will be "Literature and software engineering."
2. A New Type of Publication
****************************
2.1. The central role of the new technologies
==============================================
The new technologies will by definition be at the heart of this
publication, both for the possibilities they represent and the
questions they raise.
This publication will seek to generate and discover unexpected new ways
of relating reading and writing. Working on the principle that the new
technologies can complement, rather than compete with, the culture of
the book, it will be one of the first publications to allow its users
to combine the pleasure of reading the printed word with the advantages
of "intelligent" reading assisted by computer: representation of a
text's textual organization, dynamic annotation, access to a wider
corpus of texts, iconographic, audiovisual and sound documents, etc.
2.2. Connecting up with the Internet
=====================================
Going beyond the traditional method whereby the contents of a
publication are determined by an editorial committee, it will be
possible to experiment with the selection and enrichment of the themes
and topics by opening them up to discussion on the Internet.
At a later stage, articles from back issues and excerpts will be made
available on the Internet.
2.3. A publication on two media
===============================
Publication will be annual. The editorial characteristics of the
periodical will contribute to its novelty. Each issue will be designed
as a real intellectual event, in close link with the Pompidou Center.
The publication will have its own independent resources for design,
production and distribution.
The publication will take the form of two products, sold together:
o a printed edition, comprising several hundred pages, and featuring
unabridged commissioned articles together with accompanying
illustrations,
o a CD-ROM to allow for the combination of writings: stills, animated
images and sounds.
The designers of the project see these two forms of reading -
traditional and electronic - as perfectly compatible. The aim is to
combine both modes of textual access and appropriation.
It is worth pointing out some of the reading operations and types of
textual presentation available on the electronic version. For example:
o linguistic exploration and analysis (vocabulary, style, syntax);
representation of the textual organization;
o presentation of the various stages of the texts (manuscripts), up to
the final version presented on paper;
o some of the more theoretical texts will be accompanied by their
reference texts, thus allowing for association and contextualisation;
o dynamic annotation of the text by the reader, whereby the act of
reading becomes an act of writing;
o availability of aids to literary creation such as generators,
especially for the first issue, "Literature and software engineering."
o the possibility of letting some authors create their own CD-ROM
sequences.
2.4. Reaching an international audience: the question of language
==================================================================
We are currently looking into the question of language. Should we offer
a publication that is entirely bilingual (French and English)? Or one
which reflects its global reach by publishing contributions in their
original language as well as in French? Should we offer a full French
translation alongside the original version of texts by non-French
contributors, or just abstracts?
--------------------- cut here -------------------------------------
Questionnaire
**************
We would like to know your thoughts about this project.
Please reply to the following few questions and return via email to
"[log in to unmask]"
Thanks for your time!
1. Who are you?
2. How old are you?
3. Where do you live?
4. Which language(s) do you speak?
5. Would you read this publication in French?
6. Would you read a bilingual version of this publication (French and
English)?
7. Which computer platform do you use: Mac? PC? other (specify which one)?
8. What is your profession/activity?
9. Your impressions, suggestions, thoughts about this project:
--
Daniel Soutif
Directeur du departement de developpement culturel
|
