File 3: Ejournal & archive, by Jack Kessler, kessler@well.sf.ca.us -- Archive copy of an issue of the FYI France ejournal, ISSN 1071-5916, distributed via email on December 15, 2010 -- and, a little later, here on http://fyifrance.blogspot.com/, and at Facebook-Jack Kessler's Wall-http://tinyurl.com/272s7h8.
"Internet, the knowledge revolution"
A book of readings, in a different way of looking at the Internet -- a "foreign" way, non-anglophone... a French way... perhaps even an "international" way...
- Hervé Le Crosnier, Internet: la révolution des savoirs (Paris : la Documentation Française, novembre 2010) 120 pages ; ISSN : 0015-9743 ; Series: problèmes politiques et sociaux, no. 978.
http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/catalogue/3303332109784/
In both the selection and arrangement, of these interesting articles -- Le Crosnier draws from Clay Shirky, Umberto Eco, J.-N. Jeanneney, B. Racine, other interesting writers and resources -- here, in one slim volume, some very "different" approaches are presented to the way "data" and "information" and "research" are being considered and pursued online.
Are these "different" approaches French? Are they European? Are they, simply, non-American?
As with healthcare and sovereign debt and so many other subjects, nowadays, readers will find here subtle, and some not-so-subtle, differences with the current reigning paradigm.
Whether those differences exist because the writers here are, primarily, not American, must be for the reader to judge. But the interesting ideas presented here stray from the current mainstream.
Octavio Paz once famously labeled his own non-conformist ideas about Mexico, "Critique of the Pyramid". Here Le Crosnier is interested in similar: in ideas which stand apart, and look skeptically and critically at the "pyramid" of digital information we are constructing, and at its capacities for doing both good and, perhaps, some evil.
It is only by standing apart, from the process, that writers -- thinkers -- really can do this. By being "foreign"... Those too close to the center of the dynamo, at the current pyramid's apex perhaps, those caught up in all this, Americans, also all English-speakers, should read this little book, and carefully consider its contents -- Americans should note for example that there is little said here about entrepreneurial spirit, or about monetization, or profit margin, or return-on-investment or venture capitalism, all topics so essential nowadays to American discussions of these matters.
Le Crosnier divides his inquiry into three sections: translations are my own --
- Société de la connaissance: un monde en transformation ("The Knowledge Society: A World in Transformation")
- Produire et partager les connaissances ("Producing and Sharing Knowledge")
- Transmission des connaissances ("The Transmission of Knowledge")
-- what is "knowledge" in the digital era? -- how do its new shaping & sharing procedures work? -- and do they work, does "it" get transmitted, from some to others, and is the thing-transmitted really "knowledge"?
There are those of us who believe that Twitter tweets and Google searches and Wiki-leaks and Info-tainment might not be "knowledge" -- more just, really, noise -- something pretending to be "information" but, lacking filters & structure & wisdom & experience, more just really "data".
Or perhaps the skeptics and critics just, as the poets warn, are "growing old" -- per T.S. Eliot,
I grow old. I grow old.
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
These are new ideas, discussed in this little book. Some are extraordinary, some mundane -- some ideas about books and libraries may be comfortable and familiar, others about e-books and information-sharing may be threatening and maddening -- a world of Twitter and Facebook, of Infotainment and Wikileaks, of Internet-enabled video-gaming, may not be the knowledge-world which even our mermaids had in mind, back when they first sang to us, but it may be the rough-beast brave new world that is dawning.
Jack Kessler, kessler@well.com
--oOo--
p.s. The best way to understand Le Crosnier's discussion, before diving into his readings, is to follow his table of contents, closely: so I have translated it here -- French speakers inevitably will find at least subtle differences, between my translations and his French originals, but that is partly the point --
Sommaire
("Summary")
[...and yes I realize "Table of Contents" is the usual rendering into English. But that is what I mean, in saying just above that "vive la différence" is partly the point: "Summary" does a better job, here, of conveying the intention in what follows -- lacking as it does the pseudo-"mathematical" & "certainty" connotations of the English usage "table" -- not the only fausse amie which may not be so fausse, in what follows. En garde, then, the French really do "think different".]
Internet: la révolution des savoirs
("Internet: the knowledge revolution")
Dossier réalisé par Hervé Le Crosnier
("Compiled and edited by Hervé Le Crosnier")
maître de conférences à l'université de Caen
("maître de conférences at the université de Caen")
[page:]
5 Avant-propos -- Hervé le Crosnier
("Foreword")
Société de la connaissance: un monde en transformation ("The Knowledge Society: A World in Transformation")
De nouvelles pratiques culturelles
("Some new cultural practices")
13 De la société de l'information à la société des savoirs partagés -- S. Burch
("From the Society of Information to the Society of Shared Information")
16 Des compétences devenues indispensables -- Parlement européen
("Some skills which have become indispensable")
17 Comment les enfants et les adolescents se représentent l'internet -- É. Kredens et B. Fontar
("How children and adolescents present themselves on the Internet")
19 Les digital natives et la culture -- S. Octobre
("'Digital natives' and culture")
22 Culture/distraction: une frontière de plus en plus brouillée -- O. Donnat
("Culture versus Distraction: an increasingly-scrambled frontier")
24 Vivre dans un monde de flux -- H. Guillaud
("Life in a world of change")
Quelles conséquences sur les savoirs?
("What consequences, for knowledge?")
26 Google nous rend-il idiots? -- N. Carr
("Does Google turn us into idiots?")
30 Cerveau et internet -- L. Belot, J. Lehrer
("The Brain and the Internet")
31 Internet transforme-t-il la façon dont nous pensons? -- H. Guillaud
("Will the Internet transform the way we think?")
33 Une dynamique de partage de la connaissance -- P. Aigrain
("A Knowledge-Sharing Dynamic")
Produire et partager les connaissances ("Producing and Sharing Knowledge")
La recherche en libre accés
("Open-access searching")
37 Comment et pourquoi les revues scientifiques ont-elles été créées? -- J.-C. Guédon
("How and why were scientific reviews created?")
39 Lever les obstacles vers l'accés ouvert -- Initiative de Budapest
("Lifting the obstacles to open access")
41 Crise des revues scientifiques et nouvelles formes de publication -- J. Farchy, P. Froissart et C. Méadel
("Crisis, scientific reviews and new forms of publication")
42 Valoriser les données scientifiques publiques -- OCDE
("Evaluating publicly-available scientific data")
44 Trois communautés scientifiques et leurs pratiques de publications numériques -- J.-M. Salaün
("Three scientific communities and their digital publication practices")
Recherche ouverte et collaborative
("Open and collaborative research")
48 Savoirs profanes: l'exemple de la production d'information médicale par les patients -- C. Méadel
("Savoirs profanes: the example of the production of medical information by the patients")
50 Les blogs scientifiques du Guardian -- M. Garber
("The science blogs of The Guardian")
51 La vidéo incite à l'innovation -- S. Lapoix
("Video and innovation")
52 Un quatrième paradigme scientifique -- G. Bell
("A Fourth Paradigm, for science")
55 Tela Botanica : des relations nouvelles entre amateurs et experts -- L. Heaton, F. Millerand et S. Proulx
("Tela Botanica: new relations between amateurs and experts")
Communautés technologiques créatives
("Creative technology communities")
58 La liberté du logiciel -- D. Cardon
("Free The Software")
60 Les méthodes du libre au-delà du logiciel -- C. Shirky
("Freedoms beyond software")
63 La révolution des amateurs professionnels -- C. Leadbeter, P. Miller
("The revolt of the professional amateurs")
Transmission des connaissances ("The Transmission of Knowledge")
Le système scolaire et le numérique
("The school system and the digital")
69 Prendre en compte les TIC à l'école -- ministère de l'éducation nationale
("Taking the new technologies into account at school")
70 Le C2i : certificat informatique et internet -- ministère de l'Education nationale
("The C2i: Certificate in Informatique and Internet")
71 Cyberéducation pour une cybergénération ? -- C. Kéribin
("Cyber-education for a cyber-generation")
72 Les apports des Tice dans l'apprentissage -- J.-M. Fourgous
("What the new technologies bring to apprenticeship")
74 La réalité de l'usage d'internet dans les établissements scolaires -- Le Monde
("The reality of Internet usage in schools")
Les ressources éducatives libres
("Open education resources")
76 Que sont les ressources éducatives ouvertes? -- S. Gurell
("What are open education resources?")
77 Petite histoire du concept de ressources éducatives libres -- S. d'Antoni
("The idea of open education resources: a history")
79 Débrider le potentiel des ressources éducatives partagées -- Déclaration du Cap
("Unleash the potential of shared educational resources")
Mémoires numériques ("Digital memories")
Archiver l'internet
("Archiving the Internet")
85 Politique de l'archive -- D. Boullier
("The politics of an archive")
87 Le dépôt légal de l'internet -- G. llien
("Copyright deposit and the Internet")
90 Archiver nos mémoires: pourquoi conserver Twitter ? -- O. Ertzscheid
("Archiving our memories: why save Twitter?")
Du livre aux bibliothèques numériques
("From The Book to Digital Libraries")
96 Définir les bibliothèques numériques -- H. Le Crosnier
("Defining digital libraries")
100 Apprendre à rechercher l'information -- Le Monde
("Learning how to research information")
102 Le numérique tuera le livre -- C. Biagini et G. Carnino
("Le Numérique tuera Le Livre")
104 Le « vertige de la liste » -- U. Eco
("The 'vertigo of The List'")
106 Le livre « qui s'écrit et qui se lit » -- M. Dacos
("The book, 'which is written and which is read'")
108 Le choc stimulant de l'entreprise de numérisation par Google -- J.-N. Jeanneney
("The stimulating shock of Google's digitization business")
111 Le livre numérique : des possibilités nouvelles -- B. Racine
("The digital book: new possibilities")
115 Les nouvelles missions des bibliothèques à l'heure du numérique -- H. Le Crosnier
("New missions for libraries in digital times")
117 Bibliographie complémentaire
("Bibliography")
118 Rappel des références
("References")
--oOo--
Copyright © 1992- by Jack Kessler, all rights reserved.
W3 site maintained at http://www.fyifrance.com/
Document maintained by: Jack Kessler, kessler@well.sf.ca.us
Last update: December 19, 2010
