Editorialization (online content)

Last updated

Editorialization refers to all operations of organization and structuring of content on the web, and more broadly in the digital environment. Characterized as a continuous process (in time) and open (in space), the concept of editorialization allows to clarify the processes of production, diffusion and validation of knowledge, specific to the digital environment.

Contents

Editorialization is therefore a key concept in the understanding of digital culture and its epistemological turn. [1]

Background

Introduction of the term in France

While the term editorialization appeared in French, it seems to be anglophone at first. It is important to note that the two terms have two different meanings. « Editorialization », which is derived from the term « editorialize », signifies « to express an opinion in the form of an editorial [2] ». Whereas in French, this term has acquired a broader meaning through its use, particularly in relation to digital culture and new forms of knowledge production. [3]

In 2007, the term « editorialization » is used by Bruno Bachimont who defines it as a « process that consists in enlisting resources for inclusion in a new publication ». [4] Considering it as an exploitation of content based on the search for information, but not limited to it, Bruno Bachimont insists that editorialization is an adaptation of pre-existing content to the digital environment.

In the same year, following the tradition of revitalizing document research, Manuel Zacklad (2007) [5] defines editorialization as a particular type of documentarisation. Documentarisation can be part of a sophisticated division of labor, in both traditional and web environments, which contains different stages: authorial documentarisation (an author's work on the medium to give it an internal coherence), editorial (inclusion in a genre and a collection), broadcast (aimed at facilitating material access) and appropriation (produced by readers and commentators). According to this typology, editorialization is a kind of documentarisation aimed at rendering several documents more consistent as part of a collection, a portal, a website, a blog. It is also increasingly implemented by new actors.

It is by entering into the perspective initiated by Bachimont, that from 2008, the research laboratory on the new forms of editorialization at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Paris Nord - MSH Paris Nord [6] adjusts the definition by applying it to content, which develops directly in the digital environment. [7]

Since 2008, the concept of editorialization has been largely theorized in Francophone research, notably through the seminar "Digital Writing and Editorialization" [8] founded in 2008 by Marcello Vitali-Rosati, Gérard Wormser, Nicolas Sauret and Anne-Laure Brisac [3] and joined in 2015 by a team from the Dicen-IDF laboratory led by Louise Merzeau. In April 2015, Jérôme Valluy listed 70 academic publications explicitly dealing with the concept in a selective bibliography. Valluy indicates, however, that all of this work is not representative of the subject with regard to its completeness or the themes, subject matter and approaches deployed when addressing the issue of editorialization. [9]

Definitions and theoretical issues

Editorialization is a concept that brings together several phenomena that are taking place in the digital sphere. In a review article, "What is editorialization?", Marcello Vitali-Rosati identifies the various developments of the notion within research communities. He proceeds, at the same time, by identifying different natures of editorialization while distinguishing the notion of other related concepts.

Four natures

« Processual [10] », editorialization is open and continuous in time and space. Involving several actors, it is also « collective [11] ». Marcello Vitali-Rosati further outlines the « performativity [12] » inherent in the idea of editorialization. Since the digital environment exceeds the framework of the web in the present time, Marcello Vitali-Rosati notes that editorialization "tends to act on reality rather than representing it [13] ». Finally - because the digital environment now involves a web of objects (or a semantic web 2.0#Web 3.0), where « it is no longer appropriate to separate the discourse on reality from reality itself [14] » — editorialization also has an « ontological [14] » nature.

Editorialization and content curation

Marcello Vitali-Rosati accounts for the essential differences between editorialization and content curation, i.e. : « The action of finding, grouping, organizing and sharing the best and most relevant online content on a specific subject. »

Editorialization involves the process of content curation. If « curation is the action of a specific individual or defined group, […] editorialization refers to the ways this action is shaped by the characteristics of the digital environment. [15] » Editorialization refers to a set of phenomena and processes that goes beyond the tasks performed by content curators [16] given the fact that it also points to the structure of platforms, the set of interactions that users and digital instances have.

We could say that curation is a part of editorialization and that editorialization is the whole process, that it takes into account everything that is involved in the production of the cultural meaning of content.

— Marcello Vitali-Rosati, « What is editorialization ?», Sens public, January 2016

Thus defined, editorialization seems to go beyond the notion of content curation, but also of conventional edition or digital edition understood in the strict sense. It is not exercised within the framework of a clearly defined publication, but in what Louise Merzeau following Manuel Zacklad [17] defines as a "support environment" [18] made of a plurality of spaces and devices in which a multitude of human or mechanical actors, organized by a "pervasive" authority, intervene.

Editorialization and edition

The main difference between edition and editorialization consists in the latter's focus on the technological devices that determine the context of a content and its accessibility. As a result, editorialization generates meaning when it organizes content and integrates it into a technical context, into a content network, and enhances it by contributing to its indexation. If publishing is a process determined by time and space, editorialization is, on the contrary, an open and continuous process that can not be restricted to space or time. The actors of edition are limited and known in advance: the authors, the editors and the whole editorial team. Once the book is published, the editing process is complete. In contrast, the process of editorialization is opened to space, since users can take part in it: the recommendations, the resumptions of content and the comments are part of editorialization. In this process, it is not only a matter of choosing, legitimizing, formatting and distributing content, but also of thinking about all the techniques that we will use or create to do so, as well as the circulation environments produced by the digital space. [3]

Finally, it is not only a question of a difference of tools, but also of a cultural difference : « editorialization is not our way of producing knowledge using digital tools; it is our way of producing knowledge in the digital age, or better, in our digital society [3] ».

Editorialization and authority

Authority

According to Marcello Vitali-Rosati, editorialization would now have replaced the principle of authority. The devices of editorialization guarantee the validity of the contents in assuming the functions that were typically those of the author. [19] Actions therefore take place on the web, and the functions of editorialization are perpetuating links between these actions, transforming them into units of meaning. [19]

This substitution does not imply a disappearance of traditional authority. Other forms of authority are indeed in place, such as authoritarianism, that is to say « the propensity for authors to assert authorship outside the established authorities [20] », that incorporate the features of the editorialization process.

It is important to note the difference between author and actor; when the individual acts on the net, he performs an action. He is therefore viewed as an actor. An action, as Marcello Vitali-Rosati explains, unfolds in real time, it only makes sense as it occurs. The person who writes an article on a page is acting at the very moment of writing, but no longer when the text (the action) is finished. The author, on the other hand, is present even when the actor is no longer there. He is present before and after the action. The result of navigating a page, the passage from one link to another, the path from one click to another, although considered as actions that the individual performs, because they do only make sense when someone acts, are good examples of the fact that the individual is certainly the actor of this action, but not the author of it. These actions « are only the re-presentation or the re-production of actions ordered by the author. [19] » Websites record our journeys, provide the link between the pages visited and the products searched in order to offer them to another user by means of algorithmic processing; a job that the user has not done and, consequently, he is not the author. « The author function, if it exists, would be in this case rather linked to a gathering of actions than to their production. [19] »

Editorialization of different types of documents

Digital publishing, a new form of knowledge production and diffusion

Digital publishing has three dimensions : digitization, digital edition and network editing. The first is the transformation of information recorded on physical documents to digital information. The second only concerns native digital documents, the editing work on a digital medium from beginning to end. The third is based on the modes of collaborative writing contributing to the development and improvement of content via Internet-specific communication. The latter being out of step with editorial practices prior to digital. [21]

While in digital publishing everything is done in a digital medium, the network intervenes at the level of the diffusion of content, it is only used to send it to the readers. In network publishing, on the contrary, communication specific to the Internet is at the heart of the editorial process. Wikipedia is the perfect example to illustrate the collaborative model of network publishing. [21]

Image editorialization on the Web, metadata and indexing mode

The digital, connected to the Web, fragments and recomposes content in order to multiply its uses. In order to make digital content accessible, the creation of information on the content is necessary. This creation then involves a whole work of indexing and creation of metadata within the framework of images, which can be likened to editorialization, since metadata represent « a structured set of data describing a resource such as a book, article, image, video, audio document, etc. Metadata can be used for document description and retrieval, preservation, and resource collection management [22] ».

Indexing is the process of a container hosting content. Bruno Bachimont defines it as "a structure that establishes the relation between the structure of the container (for example the separation into a paragraph, the structure into titles and subtitles, etc.) and the structure of the content, that is, of its meaning [4] ». This process makes it easy to find all the structures of the container related to the content structure materialized by only one keyword. Regarding the images on the web, their indexing is done in two ways: we either speak of indexation textuelle, by metadata; or indexation d'image, by their graphic content (shapes, colors, texture, etc.).

Online video editorialization, the "added value documentary" mode

The editorialization of online videos supposes a valuing of the contents, namely, to publish a well referenced catalog, to structure the resources of a site by themes, and to contextualize the audio-visual documents in an exhaustive way thus animating a whole network. Indeed, a real use of a content involves its editorialization, its contextualization and its added value. The added value, a concept developed by Jacques Chaumier and Eric Sutter, then makes it possible to structure the offer and consequently, to facilitate access to documents and to respond to specific requests. Additional add-ons can be added: links, educational folders, notations, personal comments, etc. [23]

Related Research Articles

Information architecture (IA) is the structural design of shared information environments; the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability; and an emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design, architecture and information science to the digital landscape. Typically, it involves a model or concept of information that is used and applied to activities which require explicit details of complex information systems. These activities include library systems and database development.

Electronic publishing includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It also includes the editing of books, journals and magazines to be posted on a screen.

Enterprise content management (ECM) extends the concept of content management by adding a timeline for each content item and, possibly, enforcing processes for its creation, approval and distribution. Systems using ECM generally provide a secure repository for managed items, analog or digital. They also include one methods for importing content to bring manage new items, and several presentation methods to make items available for use. Although ECM content may be protected by digital rights management (DRM), it is not required. ECM is distinguished from general content management by its cognizance of the processes and procedures of the enterprise for which it is created.

<span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">Conseil supérieur de laudiovisuel</i></span>

The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel, abbreviated CSA, was a French institution created in 1989 whose role was to regulate the various electronic media in France, such as radio and television. The creation of the Haute Autorité de la Communication Audiovisuelle was a measure founded in the Socialist Party's electoral program of 1981, called 110 Propositions for France.

Dominique Moulon

Dominique Moulon is a historian of art and technology, art critic and curator, specializing in French digital art. He is the author of the books Art contemporain nouveaux médias and Art Beyond Digital.

Serge Abiteboul French computer scientist

Serge Joseph Abiteboul is a French computer scientist working in the areas of data management, database theory, and finite model theory.

Edmond Couchot was a French digital artist and art theoretician who taught at the University Paris VIII.

<i>Opération Teddy Bear</i> Video game

Opération Teddy Bear is an educational comic strip video game released in 1996. It was developed by Index+ and a co-production with Flammarion, and is written by Edouard Lussan.

Henri Verdier

Henri Verdier is a French entrepreneur and digital specialist who has been serving as the country's ambassador for digital affairs since 2018. Previousy he was the French State Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from 2015 to 2018 and, before, the Head of Etalab, the French Agency for Public Open data.

Conseil national du numérique

The Conseil national du numérique is a French independent advisory commission created on 29 April 2011 by the French presidential decree n°2011-476. It was reorganized and expanded by another French presidential decree on 13 December 2012, to expand its spectrum of actions to all the questions set up by the development of the digital in society and economy. The Council issues independent opinions and recommendations on any question relating to the impact of digital technologies on economy and society. The government can consult the Council on new legislation or draft regulations.

The Poietic Generator is a social-network game designed by Olivier Auber in 1986, and developed from 1987 under the label free art thanks to many contributors. The game takes place within a two-dimensional matrix in the tradition of board games and its principle is similar to both Conway's Game of Life and the surrealists' exquisite corpse.

On 6 May 2015, the European Commission, led at the time by Jean-Claude Juncker, communicated the Digital Single Market strategy which intend to remove virtual borders, boost digital connectivity, and make it easier for consumers to access cross-border online content. The Digital Single Market, which is one of the European Commission's 10 political priorities, aims to fit the EU's single market for the digital age – moving from 28 national digital markets to a single one and then to open up digital services to all citizens and strengthen business competitiveness in the digital economy. In other words, the Digital Single Market is a market characterized by ensuring the free movement of people, services and capital and allowing individuals and businesses to seamlessly access and engage in online activities irrespective of their nationality or place of residence. Fair competition conditions and a high level of protection of personal and consumer data are applied.

Webcomics in France

Webcomics in France are usually referred to as either blog BD or BD numérique. Early webcomics in the late 1990s and early 2000s primarily took on the form of personal blogs, where amateur artists told stories through their drawings. The medium rose in popularity in economic viability in the country in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The Turbomedia format, where a webcomic is presented more alike a slideshow, was popularized in France in the early 2010s.

Louise Merzeau

Sylvie Merzeau was a French academic, university professor at the Paris Nanterre University and a photographer.

Béatrice Galinon-Mélénec

Béatrice Galinon-Mélénec is a French semiotician. She is professor emeritus of communication studies, specializing in the fields of anthropology of communication and the analysis of the non-verbal dimension of interpersonal communication situations. Her approach to the interpretation of signs is based on the new wave of semiotics, known as anthroposemiotics where embodied semiotics takes a central position.

Antonio Casilli

Antonio A. Casilli is a Professor of Sociology at Télécom Paris, the school of telecommunications engineering of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, and an Associate Researcher at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences. His research focuses on computer-mediated communication, labour, and fundamental rights. He has been a regular commentator at La Grande Table and Place de la Toile on France Culture.

Loi pour une République numérique French law

The loi pour une République numérique is a French law first proposed by Axelle Lemaire, Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, voted on 07/10/2016.

The Total Digital Access to the League of Nations Archives Project, or LONTAD is a grant-funded large-scale digitization project to digitize, preserve, and provide online access to the archives of the League of Nations. Its fundamental aim is to modernize access to the archives for researchers, education institutions, and the general public. The project will result in 250 terabytes of data, over 500,000 units of descriptive metadata, and the rehousing, preservation and conservation of the physical archives. The project is managed by the Institutional Memory Section (IMS) of the Library of the United Nations Office at Geneva. Launched in 2017, it is scheduled for completion in 2022.

IEML is an Open source artificial method to represent the semantic content of a linguistic sign. It was designed by Pierre Lévy as an Open collaboration project as part of his works on Collective intelligence in order to encode meaning in a computer readable way. Its design is based on mathematics and logic abstractions but with a clear inspiration from the organic structure of natural languages.

The Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication is the French independent administrative agency resulting from the merger on 1 January 2022 of the High Audiovisual Council (CSA) and the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and Protection of Rights on the Internet (Hadopi). ARCOM is responsible for both audiovisual and digital communications.

References

  1. ↑ Valérie Carayol et Franc Morandi, Le tournant numérique des sciences humaines et sociales, Publications de la Maison des sciences de l'homme d'Aquitaine, 12 janvier 2016, 132 p. ( ISBN   978-2-85892-441-7 read online)
  2. ↑ « Definition of Editorialize », Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/editorialize
  3. 1 2 3 4 Marcello Vitali-Rosati, "What is editorialization ?", January 2016. (read online)
  4. 1 2 Bruno Bachimont,« Nouvelles tendances applicatives : de l'indexation à l'éditorialisation », 2007, in Gros, Patrick (eds.)
  5. ↑ Manuel Zacklad. Espace documentaire participatif et gouvernance. Congress of the European Regional Science Association (47th Congress) and ASRDLF (Association de Science Régionale de Langue Française, 44th Congress) PARIS - August 29th - September 2nd, 2007., Aug 2007, France. 2007.
  6. ↑ Fondé en 2008 par Gérard Wormser et Marcello Vitali Rosati - Séminaire Écritures numériques et éditorialisation
  7. ↑ Le concept est défini dans Pratiques de l'édition numérique, dir. Michael E. Sinatra et Marcello Vitali-Rosati, Presses de l'Université de Montréal, collection "Parcours Numériques", Montréal, 2014, 224 p. (read online).
  8. ↑ "Séminaire Nouvelles formes d'éditorialisation". seminaire.sens-public.org. Archived from the original on 2010-12-08.
  9. ↑ « Après lecture approfondie, ce corpus me semble surtout intéressant non pas pour traiter le sujet de l’éditorialisation sous ses multiples aspects (il serait très insuffisant) mais plutôt pour répondre à la question "de quoi parle-t-on aujourd’hui lorsque l’on parle d’éditorialisation ?" » Jérome Valluy, « "Editorialisation" », Terra-HN, 18 mai 2015, .
  10. ↑ Marcello Vitali-Rosati, "What is editorialization ?", Sens public, January 2016, p. 10 (ISSN 2104-3272, read online)
  11. ↑ Marcello Vitali-Rosati, "What is editorialization ?", Sens public, January 2016, p. 17 (ISSN 2104-3272, read online)
  12. ↑ Marcello Vitali-Rosati, "What is editorialization ?", Sens public, January 2016, p. 12 (ISSN 2104-3272, read online)
  13. ↑ Marcello Vitali-Rosati, "What is editorialization ?", Sens public, January 2016, p. 14 (ISSN 2104-3272, read online)
  14. 1 2 Marcello Vitali-Rosati, "What is editorialization ?", Sens public, January 2016, p. 15 (ISSN 2104-3272, read online)
  15. ↑ Marcello Vitali-Rosati, "What is editorialization ?", Sens public, January 2016, p. 6 (ISSN 2104-3272, read online)
  16. ↑ Véronique Mesguich et al., " Le curateur, cet animal social dans la jungle informationnelle ", Documentaliste-Sciences de l'Information, 2012, p. 6 (ISSN 0012-4508, )
  17. ↑ Manuel Zacklad, « Organisation et architecture des connaissances dans un contexte de transmédia documentaire : les enjeux de la pervasivité », Etudes de Communication, 39, 2012, p. 41-63 (DOI : 10.4000/edc.4017, read online)
  18. ↑ Louise Merzeau, « Entre événement et document : vers l’environnement-support », Les Cahiers de la SFSIC, Société française des sciences de l'information et de la communication, 2014, p. 230-233 (230-233)
  19. 1 2 3 4 Marcello Vitali-Rosati, "Auteur ou acteur du Web ?", Implications philosophiques, 10 juillet 2012. read online
  20. ↑ Evelyne Broudoux et al., « Auctorialité : production, réception et publication de documents numériques », dans La redocumentarisation du monde, par Pédauque T. Roger, Cepadues, 2007, p183-204, https://archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/sic_00120699/document
  21. 1 2 Pierre Mounier et Marin Dacos, « Édition électronique », Communications, Le Seuil, 1/2011 (n° 88), p. 47-55. URL : http://www.cairn.info/revue-communications-2011-1-page-47.htm
  22. ↑ BOULOGNE, A., ET AL., (2006), Journée d’étude ADBS audiovisuel Indexation des images et des sons : le numérique a-t-il changé les pratiques ? [read online], A.D.B.S, vol.43
  23. ↑ NUSSMAN, F., (2009), Plan pour la mise en ligne de ressources audiovisuelles, l’exemple du CRIPS Île-de-France [En ligne], Conservatoire national des arts et métiers Institut national des techniques de la documentation, p. 73-74 http://memsic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/mem_00524637/document

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.