[14958] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
FYI France: InfoScience research, "The Document"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jack Kessler)
Thu Oct 16 20:21:55 2003
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 12:41:04 -0700
From: Jack Kessler <kessler@WELL.COM>
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FYI France: InfoScience research in France -- "The Document"
A chance to read some of the latest thinking in France on "the
document / the electronic document", and to participate in online
discussions of same...
The STIC / Sciences et Technologies de l'Information division, of
the CNRS / Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, has
established a research group on "The Document". And, just
published, a synthesis of the collective work of 50 researchers:
and they are hoping to get some international discussion of this
going online now, via a new email list --
"Document: Form, Sign and Medium, As Reformulated for
Electronic Documents. by Roger T. Pédauque. Article. 12
septembre 2003. Working paper."
*Abstract*
"This paper presents group discussions taking place within
multidisciplinary topical network 33 of the CNRS Information and
Communication Science and Technology (STIC) Department. It
attempts to clarify the concept of document in its transition to
electronic form, based on research which tends to privilege form
(as a material or immaterial object), sign (as meaningful object)
or medium (as communication vector). Each of these terms reflects
the radical transformations that are taking place. Their
superposition stresses the importance of multidisciplinarity for
a lucid and complete analysis of the concept and how it is changing."
*Excerpts*
"Very few scientific papers give a definition of document and
even fewer discuss the definition... Many dictionaries, lists of
standards and encyclopedias have definitions that are more
designations or descriptions than a real reflection on the concept."
...
"From the Latin documentum giving the word roots in teaching
(docere = to teach), to its marginalization by the more recent,
more frequent but hardly more accurate term of «information», the
concept appears to be commonly based on two functions: evidence
(the «evidence» presented in courts or the elements of a case
file) and information (a representation of the world or a
testimony). For instance, contemporary archive science
recognizes these two functions in stating that documents have
«value as evidence» (of activity), which has a somewhat broader
meaning than judicial «evidence», and «value as information», in
the sense given above."
...
"The document was constructed as an object, whose most common
material form is a sheet of paper, over a process that lasted for
centuries mingling tools, knowledge and status. Over the last
few decades with electronic documents, we have entered a new
phase... [there has been a] loss of stability of the document as
a material object and its transformation into a process
constructed on request, which can undermine the trust placed in it."
...
"We make a distinction between:
- The document as form; under this heading, we will
classify approaches that analyze the document as a material or
immaterial object and which study its structure to better
analyze, use or manipulate it
- The document as sign; for these researchers, the
document is primarily perceived as meaningful and intentional.
The document is thus indissociable from the subject in its
context which constructs or reconstructs it and gives it meaning;
at the same time, it is considered in a documentary system or
knowledge system
- The document as medium; this dimension finally raises
the question of the document's status in social relations. The
document is a trace, constructed or found, of a communication
that exists outside space and time; at the same time, it is an
element of identity systems and a vector of power."
...
"We will discuss each category using the same scheme:
- First, we will identify the main disciplines, know-hows
or specialties that privilege this point of view. The aim is not
to discuss their validity or scientificity but to review the
diversity of the research representing this orientation, without
making a value judgment as to its importance
- Then we will suggest an interpretation of the evolution
of the points of view in the transition from traditional document
to electronic document
- We will gradually construct a definition of the
document based on each entry
- We will identify a few outstanding questions in each
category, beyond the scope of the current research.
...
"Definition 1: An electronic document is a data set organized in
a stable structure associated with formatting rules to allow it
to be read both by its designer and its readers...
"Definition 2: An electronic document is a text whose elements
can potentially be analyzed by a knowledge system in view of its
exploitation by a competent reader...
"Definition 3: An electronic document is a trace of social
relations reconstructed by computer systems."
...
"Conclusion
"...is it possible to envision a document theory making us better
able to measure the present and future consequences of electronic
documents?... It should be stressed that the opposition between
paper and electronic versions is futile. Almost all current
documents have existed in electronic form at one stage of their
life and those that haven't risk being totally forgotten.
Conversely, numerous electronic documents are printed at some
point on a personal printer or a professional printer. What is
important is therefore to have a better idea of the concept of
document in general, whose electronic form is both revealing and
a factor of evolution...
"A document may finally be nothing more than a contract between
people whose anthropological (legibility-perception),
intellectual (understanding-assimilation) and social
(sociability-integration) properties may form the basis for part
of their humanity, their capability to live together. In this
perspective, the electronic form is only one way of multiplying
and changing such contracts."
http://archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/documents/archives0/00/00/05/94/sic_00000594_02/sic_00000594.html
The links:
* CNRS/STIC -- RTP 33 : Documents and content : creating,
indexing, browsing -- overview (in English)
http://rtp-doc.enssib.fr/English_version/entry.htm
* "Documents" article -- most recent draft (Version 3) (in English)
http://archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/documents/archives0/00/00/05/94/sic_00000594_02/sic_00000594.html
* Discussion of the "Documents" article (for full access
contact the author, pedauque@enssib.fr)
http://archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/perl/bbs/bbs.cgi.fr?forum=sic_00000413&task=list&lang=fr
* Other current projects of CNRS/STIC/RTP 33 (sites in French)
http://rtp-doc.enssib.fr/English_version/p_ASen.htm
* AS32 - Web sémantique
Animateurs : Jean Charlet (AP-HP/STIM), Philippe Laublet
(LALICC, Paris 4), Chantal Reynaud (LRI, Paris 11),
http://www.lalic.paris4.sorbonne.fr/stic
* AS34 - Structuration de ressources terminologiques à
partir de textes.
Animateurs : Nathalie Aussenac (IRIT Toulouse), Anne
Condamines (ERSS Toulouse),
http://www.irit.fr/ASSTICCOT/
* AS50 - Modélisation sémantique et indexation
multimédia.
Animateurs : Bruno Bachimont (INA Bry s/Marne), G.
Vignaux (LCP, Paris),
http://www.cnrs.fr/STIC/actions/as/as/as50.htm
* AS95 - Les temps du document numérique.
Animateurs : Sylvie Calabretto (LISI-INSA Lyon),
Geneviève Lallich-Boidin (RECODOC Lyon 1), Florence Sèdes
(IRIT Toulouse),
http://fant-as-stic.fr.st/
* AS96 - Numérisation et Valorisation des Collections.
Animateurs : Abdel Belaïd (LORIA Nancy), Hubert Emptoz
(LIRIS, INSA Lyon), Georges Vignaux (LCP Paris),
http://www.diadoc.org
* AS103 - Modèle(s) de publication sur le Web.
Animateurs : Ghislaine Chartron (DOCSI URFIST/Paris),
Franck Rebillard (MEI Lyon 2),
http://www.unice.fr/urfist/Pubweb
* AS - Document et organisation.
Animateurs : Jacques Labiche (PSI - Rouen), Maryvonne
Holzem (laboratoire Dyalang - Rouen).
* Indexing -- very useful, for exploring other papers by the
group on these and associated topics -- click on the links for
the "Documents" article, provided as follows --
Domaines :
Documentation
Théories information/communication
Edition électronique
-- all of the above being nimble thinking, of a "French" approach
perhaps usefully compared, and contrasted, to approaches to the
same "document" & "documentation" topic(s) which have appeared
elsewhere...
* A Note *
As formats and uses of digital technology change, and develop, it
does seem useful to try at least to establish a common understanding.
This week my local "video rental" shop switches all of its stock
from VHS to DVD: to the delight of some, and the very great
distress of others...
And, last week, the US state in which I happen to live elected,
as Governor, a candidate who made use nearly exclusively of what
his managers call "the entertainment media", in persuading the
voters to elect him: no position "papers", no real "debates", no
traceable in-depth discussions of issues on "news" programs, or
in public appearances...
So, using just one of the many meanings of the term, per the
above paper, how do we "document" what is happening to us?
If our old formats -- "old" by at most a few years, nowadays --
suddenly no longer work, are many of us in fact left without
access? In the sheer rapidity of the information revolution, are
we creating "documents" which in fact increasingly do not
"document"?... because they cannot, having been replaced so
recently by new technologies which no longer can reach them?
All of us possess "documents", now, stored on tapes or vinyl
records or 5 1/4 inch or 3 1/2 inch floppy disks, or in old
software and other formats, which no longer are able to serve the
anthropological functional definitions -- also the intellectual
and the social -- apparently offered in the above paper. Is there
a problem developing, then? In our urge to "document", are we in
fact losing our "documents"? The tree that fell unheard in the
forest, did it fall?
And how are we "documenting" our anthropological and intellectual
and social interactions, if "the entertainment media" now is
doing that job? The interactive and cooperative and research and
archival functions, of previous generations of media which have
been charged with recording our "politics", seem less important,
in "entertainment". The ephemera of the latest rock video or
movie star gossip seem ill-suited for conveying, much less
archiving, our deepest political thoughts. And yet Governor
Schwarzenegger's managers now proudly proclaim their very
effective use of "the entertainment media", to circumvent more
traditional "document" formats and approaches, and better reach
the voters and win the election...
So if there truly is an underlying significance to "document" and
to the process of "documentation", let it reveal itself quickly,
then. Before the newest information processes transfer our
politics to "entertainment" formats, and our records to yet
another vastly-improved medium which renders all our others
useless, let us understand a little better the general direction
in which all of this "documentation" is headed.
Jack Kessler, kessler@well.com
--oOo--
FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071 - 5916
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