Aujourd’hui 10 mars sort sur les écrans un film de Roselyne Bosch, intitulé “La Rafle”, sur la rafle dite “du vel’ d’hiv”, en juillet 1942.

Je n’ai pas vu ce film, et ne connais pas la réalisatrice. Je ne puis émettre d’opinion sur la qualité du film.

Mais cette sortie me donne une occasion de mettre en ligne un document qui mérite l’effort de sa lecture.

J’ignore si c’est un document historique qui a déjà été publié ou non. Sa source est sure, il provient des archives d’une organisation syndicale policière à présent dissoute, qui disperse ses archives.

Je vous préviens, il est glaçant.

On a coutume de dire que le crime contre l’humanité qu’a constitué l’extermination des juifs en Europe au cours de la Seconde guerre mondiale est unique en ce qu’il est un crime administratif. Ce n’est pas l’oeuvre d’un fou, car un fou seul n’aurait pas pu tuer autant en aussi peu de temps. C’est un crime commis à l’aide de la machine administrative, froide, efficace, organisée et insensible.

En voici la démonstration.

Le document est un pdf, c’est une photocopie de photocopie d’une copie faite au carbone d’un document vieux de 70 ans, d’où sa piètre qualité. Grâce à la gentillesse et à la disponibilités de mes lecteurs, vous trouverez une retranscription de la circulaire ci-dessous, qui respecte dans la mesure du possible la mise en page originale. Seule la page 4 a dû être retranscrite au format pdf, il s’agit d’un tableau, qui cause des problèmes d’affichage selon la taille de l’écran du lecteur.

Je n’ai aucun droit de propriété intellectuelle sur ce document, et vu sa nature et son ancienneté, il est libre de droit. Vous pouvez copier le fichier, et en faire ce que vous voulez. La retranscription suivra ce statut et pourra être librement recopiée.

Un dernier mot : il est devenu très à la mode de se lancer à la figure cette période terrible que fut l’Occupation pour insulter son adversaire politique. Je vous remercie de ne pas profiter des commentaires pour faire des parallèles abjects entre une politique menée aujourd’hui, notamment en matière d’immigration -et vous savez combien je suis volontiers critique sur la question- quelle que soit l’indignation que vous pouvez ressentir à ce sujet. Lisez ce document, attentivement, et vous comprendrez en quoi la différence n’est pas de degré, mais de nature, et respectez la mémoire des “fiches” visées par ce document, qui n’ont pas eu le même traitement et le même sort que ceux que je défends bec et ongles aujourd’hui, avec d’autant plus de courage que ce faisant, je ne risque rien personnellement.

Ces prolégomènes seront terminés dès que j’aurai précisé que je publie ce document sans la moindre arrière pensée politique. C’est un document qui mérite d’être public, et internet me fournit l’outil pour vous le livrer tel quel. Merci de m’épargner tout procès d’intention qui serait indécent

Voici donc le crime administratif en action, la forme crue qu’il prend quand il se commet : voici la circulaire n°173-42 de la préfecture de police du 13 juillet 1942, c’est-à-dire les instructions officielles données à la police, par la voie hiérarchique, pour la réalisation de ladite Rafle du Vel’d’hiv.

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Transcription de la circulaire (Travail en cours) : (Merci à tous les volontaires).

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Préfecture de Police                              C O P I E

—————————
Direction de la

Police Municipale

-
Etat-Major
Bureau - A

                                          S E C R E T

Paris,le 13 Juillet 1942.

 

CIRCULAIRE N° 173 - 42

 

à Messieurs les Commissaires Divisionnaires, Commissaires de Voie
Publique et des Circonscriptions de Banlieu.
( En communication à Direction P.J. - R.G. - Gendarmerie et Garde
de Paris).

______________

 

Les Autorités Occupantes ont décidé l’arrestation et le rassemblement d’un certain nombres de Juifs étrangers.

 

I - PRINCIPES

1 - A qui s’applique cette mesure ?

a ) Catégories :
 

La mesure dont il s’agit, ne concerne que les Juifs des nationalités suivantes :

- Allemands
- Autrichiens
- Polonais
- Tchécoslovaques
- Russes ( réfugiés ou soviétiques, c’est à dire “blancs” ou “rouges”)
- Apatrides, c’est-à-dire de nationalité indéterminée.

b) Age et sexe :
 

Elle concerne tous les Juifs des nationalités ci-dessus, quel que soit leur sexe, pourvu qu’ils soient âgés de 16 à 60 ans ( les femmes de 16 à 55 ans).

Les enfants de moins de 16 ans seront emmenés en même temps que les parents.

Dérogations :


Ne tombent pas sous le coup de la mesure :

- les femmes enceintes dont l’accouchement serait proche
- les femmes nourrissant au sein leur bébé
- les femmes ayant un enfant de moins de 2 ans, c’est-à-dire né après le 1er Juillet 1940
- les femmes de prisonniers de guerre
- les veuves ou veufs ayant été mariés à un non-juif
- les juifs ou juives mariés à des non juifs, et faisant la preuve, d’une part de leurs liens légitimes, et d’autre part, de la qualité de non-juif de leur conjoint.
- les juifs et juives porteurs de la carte de légitimation de l’Union Générale des Israélites de France, carte qui est de couleur bulle ou jaune clair.
- les juifs ou juives dont l’époux légitime est d’une nationalité non visée au paragraphe a)
- les parents dont l’un au moins des enfants n’est pas juif.

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-2-

Dans le cas où un membre de la famille bénéficie de la dérogation, les enfants ne sont pas emmenés, à moins qu’ils ne soient juifs et âgés de 16 ans et plus

 

Exécution :

              Chaque israélite (homme et femme) à arrêter fait l’objet d’une fiche. Ces fiches sont classées par arrondissement et par ordre alphabétique.

 

              Vous constituerez des équipes d’arrestation. Chaque équipe sera compos d’un gardien en tenue et d’un gardien en civil ou d’un inspecteur des Renseignements Généraux ou de la Police Judiciaire.

 

              Chaque équipe devra recevoir plusieurs fiches. A cet effet, l’ensemble des fiches d’un arrondissements ou d’une circonscription sera remis par ma Direction ce jour à 21 heures.

 

              Les équipes chargées des arrestations devront procéder avec le plus de rapidité possible, sans paroles inutiles et sans commentaires. En outre, au moment de l’arrestation, le bien-fondé ou le mal-fondé de celle-ci n’a pas à être discuté. C’est vous qui serez responsables des arrestations et examinerez les cas litigieux qui devront être signalés.

 

              Vous instituerez, dans chacun de vos arrondissements ou circonscrip-tion, un ou plusieurs ”centres primaires de rassemblement”, que ferez garder. C’est dans ce ou ces centres que seront examinés par vous les cas douteux. Si vous ne pouvez trancher la question, les intéressés subiront momentanément le sort des autres.

 

              Des autobus dont le nombre est indiqué plus lion, seront mis à votre disposition.

 

              Lorsque vous aurez un contingent suffisant pour remplir un autobus, vous dirigerez :

a)     sur le Camp de Drancy les individus ou familles n’ayant pas d’enfant de moins

b)     sur le Vélodrome d’Hiver : les autres.

 

En ce qui concerne le camp de Drancy, le contingent prévu doit être de 6.000. En conséquence, chaque fois que vous ferez un départ pour Drancy, vous ferez connaître le nombre de personnes transportées dans ce camp à l’Etat-Major qui vous préviendra lorsque le maximum sera atteint. Vous dirigerez alors les autobus sur le Vélodrome d’Hiver.

 

              Vous affecterez à chaque autobus une escorte suffisante. Les glaces de la voiture devront demeurer fermées et la plate-forme sera réservée au bagages. Vous rappelerez aux équipes spéciales d’arrestation, en leur donnant lecture, les instructions contenues dans les consignes que vous remettrez à chacune d’elle avant de procéder aux opérations.

             

              Vous leur indiquerez également, d’une façon nette, les renseignements qu’ils devront, après chaque arrestation, porter au verso de la fiche afférente à la personne arrêteé.

 

              Vous ne transmettrez que le 18 au matin :

I° - les fiches des personnes dont l’arrestation aura été opérée

2° - Les fiches des personnes disparues.

3° - Les fiches des personnes ayant changé d’adresse, et dont la nouvelle résidence est connue à moins que cette dernière ne se trouve dans votre arrondissement.

---

-3-

Enfin, vous conserverez pour être exécutées ultérieurement les fiches des personnes momentanément absentes lors de la première tentative d’arrestation.

 

Pour que ma Direction soit informée de la marche des opérations, vous tiendrez au fur et à mesure, à votre Bureau, une comptabilité conforme au classement ci-dessus.

 

Des appels généraux vous seront fréquemment adressés pour la communication de ces renseignements.

 

Parmi les personnes arrêtées, vous distinguerez le nombre de celles conduites à Drancy de celles conduites au Vélodrome d’Hiver.

 

Pour faciliter le contrôle, vous ferez porter au dos de la fiche, par un de vos secrétaires, la mention « Drancy  ou  Vélodrome d’Hiver », selon le cas.

 

II.                 Effectifs et matériel

 

A. Dispositions générales

 

Les permissions seront suspendues du 15 courant à 18 heures au 17 courant à 23 heures et tous les cours supprimés jusqu’à la reprise des permissions.

 

Le service de garde des Etablissements allemands ne sera pas assuré, sauf celui des parcs de stationnement et des garages installés dans les passages souterrains, du 15 courant à 21 heures 30 au 17 courant à 21 heures 30, sauf quelques rares exceptions dont vous serez seuls juges.

 

En conséquence, les renforts fournis habituellement pour ce service spécial ne vous seront pas envoyés.

 

De cette situation, il résulte que chaque arrondissement peut sans difficulté affecter à la constitution des « équipes spéciales » 10 gardiens par brigade de roulement et la brigade D au complet, sans que le service normal de l’arrondissement en soit affecté, assuré qu’il sera par le reste de la brigade de roulement (dont l’effectif, du fait de la suppression des permissions, correspond au moins à son effectif habituel).

 

Les gardiens désignés pour constituer les équipes spéciales seront exemptés de leur service normal d’arrondissement à partir du 15 courant à 16 h. ils assureront à nouveau leur service habituel à partir du 17 courant à 23 heures.

 

Ceux qi (sic) prendront la surveillance des établissements allemands le 17 courant à 21 h.30 devront être libérés de tout service dans l’après-midi du même jour.

 

B. Equipes spéciales d’arrestation

 

I.                  Renforts les 16 et 17 juillet

 

Les services détachant les effectifs ci-dessous indiqués devront prévoir l’encadrement normal, les chiffres donnés n’indiquant que le nombre des gardiens. Les gradés n’interviendront pas dans les arrestations, mais seront employés selon vos instructions au contrôle et à la surveillance nécessaire.

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Page 4 (format pdf, s’agissant d’un tableau)

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- 5 -

 

2 – Horaire de travail des équipes spéciales.

 

                            Les inspecteurs et gardiens constituant les équipes spéciales d’arrestation prendront leur service au Central d’Arrondissement désigné, le 16 courant à 4 heures du matin. Ils effectueront leur service :

 

                            1°- le 16              de 4 heures à 9 heures 30 et

                                                        de 12 heures à 15 heures 30

                            2°- le 17              de 4 heures à 13 heures.

 

              C – Garde des centres primaires de rassemblement et accompagnement des autobus

 

                            1 – Renforts des 16 et 17 Juillet :

 

                            Pour leur permettre d’assurer la garde de leurs centres primaires de rassemblement et l’accompagnement des détenus dans les autobus, les arrondissements les plus chargés recevront, en outre, les 16 et 17 Juillet les renforts suivants :

 

2^me Arrt              :              15 Gardes à pied

3^me  -                            :              30 Gardiens de la CHR

4^me  -                            :              15   -                   des Cies de Circulation

                                          5   -      de l’Ecole Pratique

                                          25 Gardes à pied

5^me  -                            :              10   -

9^me  -                            :              15   -

10^me -                            :              10 Gardiens de l’Ecole Pratique

                                          30 Gardes à pied

11^me -                            :              10 Gardiens de l’Ecole Pratique

                                          10   -                   des Cies de Circulation

                                          40 Gardes à pied

12^me -                            :              10   -

                                          5 Gardiens de l’Ecole Pratique

13^me -                            :              10 Gardes à pied

                                          5 Gardiens de l’Ecole Pratique

14^me -                            :              10 Gardes à pied

                                          5 Gardiens de l’Ecole Pratique

15^me -                            :              10 Gardes à pied

16^me -                            :              10 Gardes à pied

                                          5 Gardiens de l’Ecole Pratique

17^me -                            :              10 Gardes à pied

18^me -                            :              25 Gardiens des Cies de Circulation

                                          15 Gardes à pied

19^me -                            :              20 Gardiens des Cies de Circulation

                                          15 Gardes à pied

20^me -                            :              30 Gardiens des Cies de Circulation

                                          30 Gardes à pied

 

                            2 – Horaire :

 

                            Les renforts destinés à la garde des centres primaires de rassemblement et à l’accompagnement des autobus prendront leur service au Central d’Arrondissement désigne le 16 courant à 5 heures du matin.

 

                            Ils assureront leur service les 16 et 17 Juillet :

 

                            Equipe N° 1 de 5 heures à 12 heures

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- 6 -

 

 

 

 

                            Equipe n° 2 de 12 heures à fin de service

 

                            En ce qui concerne les effectifs de la Garde de Paris, la relève aura lieu au gré du commandement.

 

                            D – Circonscriptions de Banlieue.

 

                            Toutes les circonscriptions de banlieue, sauf celles des Lilas, de Montreuil, Saint-Ouen et Vincennes, constitueront leurs équipes spéciales d’arresta-tion, assureront la garde de leurs centres primaires de rassemblement et d’accompa-gnement, à l’aide de leurs propres effectifs.

 

                            En ce qui concerne le matériel, celui-ci vous sera envoyé après communications des chiffres aux appels généraux, de manière à organiser des itinéraires de transfé-rement.

 

                            Suivant l’horaire et les dates fixées pour Paris, chapitre B, paragraphe 2, les renforts suivants seront fournis:

 

–    SAINT-OUEN : 20 gardiens en tenue et 12 gardiens en civil fournis par le 2ème Division sur ses effectifs de banlieue.

 

–    LES LILAS : 20 gendarmes et 14 gardiens en civil de l’Ecole Pratique

 

–    MONTREUIL : 25 gendarmes et 18 gardiens en civil de l’Ecole Pratique

 

–    VINCENNES : 15 gendarmes et 9 gardiens en civil de l’Ecole Pratique.

 

              Dans les Circonscriptions des Lilas, Montreuil et Vincennes, les Commissaires commenceront les opération dès 4 heures du matin avec leurs propres effectifs et les gendarmes, et recevront les gardiens en civil de l’Ecole Pratique par le pre-mier métro : c’est à dire aux environs de 6 heures 15.

 

                            E – Matériel :

 

              La Compagnie du Métropolitain, réseau de surface, enverra directement les 16 et 17 Juillet à 5 heures aux Centraux d’Arrondissement où ils resteront à votre dispo-sition jusqu’à fin de service :

 

–   Ier  Arrdt : I autobus

–   2ème   -   : I   -

–   3ème   -   : I   -

–   4ème   -   : 3   -

–   5ème   -   : 3   -

–   6ème   -   : I   -

–   7ème   -   : I   -

–   8ème   -   : I   -

–   9ème   -   : 2   -

–   10ème   -   : 3    -

–   11ème   -   : 7   -

–   12ème   -   : 2   -

–   13ème   -   : I   -

…/.

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7

I feel for Google – Steve Jobs threatened to sue me, too.

In 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass*, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were “stepping all over Apple’s IP.” (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, “I’ll just sue you.”

My response was simple. “Steve, I was just watching your last presentation, and Keynote looks identical to Concurrence – do you own that IP?” Concurrence was a presentation product built by Lighthouse Design, a company I’d help to found and which Sun acquired in 1996. Lighthouse built applications for NeXTSTEP, the Unix based operating system whose core would become the foundation for all Mac products after Apple acquired NeXT in 1996. Steve had used Concurrence for years, and as Apple built their own presentation tool, it was obvious where they’d found inspiration. “And last I checked, MacOS is now built on Unix. I think Sun has a few OS patents, too.” Steve was silent.

And that was the last I heard on the topic. Although we ended up abandoning Looking Glass, Steve’s threat didn’t figure into our decision (the last thing enterprises wanted was a new desktop – in hindsight, exactly the wrong audience to poll (we should’ve been asking developers, not CIO’s)).

As in life, bluster and threat are commonplace in business – especially the technology business. So that interaction was good preparation for a later meeting with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. They’d flown in over a weekend to meet with Scott McNealy, Sun’s then CEO – who asked me and Greg Papadopoulos (Sun’s CTO) to accompany him. As we sat down in our Menlo Park conference room, Bill skipped the small talk, and went straight to the point, “Microsoft owns the office productivity market, and our patents read all over OpenOffice.” OpenOffice is a free office productivity suite found on tens of millions of desktops worldwide. It’s a tremendous brand ambassador for its owner – it also limits the appeal of Microsoft Office to businesses and those forced to pirate it. Bill was delivering a slightly more sophisticated variant of the threat Steve had made, but he had a different solution in mind. “We’re happy to get you under license.” That was code for “We’ll go away if you pay us a royalty for every download” – the digital version of a protection racket.

Royalty bearing free software? Jumbo shrimp. (Oxymoron.)

But fearing this was on the agenda, we were prepared for the meeting. Microsoft is no stranger to imitating successful products, then leveraging their distribution power to eliminate a competitive threat – from tablet computing to search engines, their inspiration is often obvious (I’m trying to like Bing, I really am). So when they created their web application platform, .NET, it was obvious their designers had been staring at Java – which was exactly my retort. “We’ve looked at .NET, and you’re trampling all over a huge number of Java patents. So what will you pay us for every copy of Windows?” Bill explained the software business was all about building variable revenue streams from a fixed engineering cost base, so royalties didn’t fit with their model… which is to say, it was a short meeting.

I understand the value of patents – offensively and, more importantly, for defensive purposes. Sun had a treasure trove of some of the internet’s most valuable patents – ranging from search to microelectronics – so no one in the technology industry could come after us without fearing an expensive counter assault. And there’s no defense like an obvious offense.

But for a technology company, going on offense with software patents seems like an act of desperation, relying on the courts instead of the marketplace. See Nokia’s suit against Apple for a parallel example of frivolous litigation – it hasn’t slowed iPhone momentum (I’d argue it accelerated it). So I wonder who will be first to claim Apple’s iPad is stepping on their IP… perhaps those that own the carcass of the tablet computing pioneer Go Corp.? Except that would be AT&T. Hm.

Having watched this movie play out many times, suing a competitor typically makes them more relevant, not less. Developers I know aren’t getting less interested in Google’s Android platform, they’re getting more interested – Apple’s actions are enhancing that interest.

Sun was sued numerous times – most big companies are sued almost constantly by entities or actors whose sole focus is suing others. Groups with no business focus other than litigating patent suits are affectionately known as trolls – pure litigation entities. (For good humor, read this, an application to patent the act of trolling. If granted, it would give the patent holder a reciprocal claim against a patent troll.)

The most egregious of such suits was filed against Sun by Kodak (yes, the film photography people).

Egregious, because Kodak had acquired a patent from a defunct computer maker (Wang) for the exclusive purpose of suing Sun over an esoteric technology, Java Remote Method Invocation (“Java RMI” – not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “Kodak”). Given how immature Kodak’s technology business was (they were just starting out in the digital world), we had little we could respond with – I suppose we could’ve hunted for a Wang-like opportunity to hit at their core, but Kodak was a customer, which certainly complicated things, and the time and expense involved would’ve been prohibitive.

Their case was eventually heard before a jury in Rochester, New York, famous for being home to… the Eastman Kodak company. Lo and behold, the local jury decided Sun should pay Kodak more than a hundred million dollars. So here’s something I could never say as Sun’s CEO.

I prefer SmugMug.

__________________________

*To see a Looking Glass demo, click here - it starts at the ~2:00 minute mark.

With the impending launch of the Apple iPad, the Cupertino-based company's shunning of Adobe Flash technology has been brought to the forefront of technological discussions. While it was one thing to forgo Flash on a small, mobile device such as the iPhone or iPod Touch, some are questioning whether lack of Flash support is going to be a make-it-or-break it feature for the new slate devices arriving next month - devices which, if you believe Apple CEO Steve Jobs - are "better than netbooks."

On the flip side, Apple supporters echo the company's sentiments that "Flash is a CPU hog" and including support for the technology in Apple's mobile line-up would negatively impact battery life.

Sponsor

However, recent tests have put Flash up against HTML5, the new web markup language that eliminates the need for the Adobe plugin. The results of these tests show that this is not a simple black-and-white issue. Is Flash really a CPU hog? Yes, in some cases. But, surprisingly, not all the time. In fact, sometimes HTML5 actually performed worse.

Testing Flash and HTML5

Jan Ozer is an expert in video encoding technologies, has worked in digital video since 1990 and is the author of 13 books related to the subject. Recently, he put HTML5 up against Flash in a series of tests that pitted the two technologies against each other on both the Mac and PC and in different web browsers including Internet Explorer 8, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox.

The results of the tests in their entirety are published here on StreamingLearningCenter.com. The summary in a nutshell? Flash isn't always a CPU hog, sometimes that honor goes to HTML5.

Some of the highlights of Ozer's findings are below, broken up into both Mac and Windows test results.

Mac Tests

• With Safari, HTML5 was the most efficient and consumed less CPU than Flash using only 12.39% CPU. With Flash 10.0, CPU utilization was at 37.41% and with Flash 10.1, it dropped to 32.07%
• With Google Chrome, Flash and HTML5 were both equally inefficient (both are around 50%)
• With Firefox, Flash was only slightly less efficient than in Safari, but better than in Chrome

Windows Tests

• Safari wouldn't play HTML5 videos, so there was no way to test that. However, Flash 10.0 used 23.22% CPU but Flash 10.1 only used 7.43% CPU
• Google Chrome was more efficient on Windows than Mac. Playback with Flash Player 10.0 was about 24% more efficient than HTML5, while Flash Player 10.1 was 58% more efficient than HTML5.
• On Firefox, Flash 10.1 dropped CPU utilization to 6% from 22% in Flash 10.0
• In IE8, Flash 10.0 used 22.41% CPU and Flash 10.1 used 14.62% CPU

Hardware Acceleration Key to Flash Performance

In analyzing the results of the tests, Ozer determined that the key to better Flash performance was dependent upon whether or not it could access hardware acceleration. This feature, launched in Flash 10.1, allows the plugin to use the graphics processing unit (GPU) on some computers to decode video. Depending on the video card and drivers, (NVIDIA, AMD/ATI and Intel offer products that support this), the video decoding process in Flash 10.1 can now work for all video playback, not just full-screen playback as was available in Flash 10.0.

According to Adobe, hardware acceleration is not supported under either Linux or Mac OS X, the latter because Mac OS X does not expose access to the required APIs. Adobe goes on to say "The Flash Player team will continue to evaluate adding hardware acceleration to Linux and Mac OS X in future releases."

Here's what this all means in layman's terms: Apple isn't allowing Flash to become more efficient on their Mac OS X/Safari platform (or their iPod/iPhone/iPad one, either) by not providing the access to the hardware it needs to reduce its CPU load. Adobe is waiting and watching to see if they do, but, as Ozer says "the ball is in Apple's court."

Will Apple budge? At this point, it's unlikely. In blocking Flash on Apple devices, the company can easily claim that it's simply not an efficient technology...and that's true for now, considering how it's set up. But if the company wanted to allow it and make it work, it seems reasonable to believe that they could. This is what leads some insiders to believe that the decision to block Flash is less of a technological one and more of a business-minded one. After all, if you could easily visit Hulu.com to stream TV shows and movies, then why would you need to buy them from the iTunes Store?

So while Flash's "CPU hogging" may be a contributing factor in Apple's decision to not support the technology on their mobile devices, that's probably not the only reason behind the block.

Thank you to Dan Rayburn, who pointed us to Jan Ozer's article.

Discuss

The rumors of Adobe being bought by Apple come up every so often. Apple could easily afford such a purchase and the results would be interesting. I would love to see Adobe restructured by a company like Apple. Adobe has many applications that are the gold standard but it seems to lack focus. These are my thoughts on what Apple could do with Adobe’s biggest apps and make everyone’s life a lot easier.

Video

Adobe’s video market could be trimmed down. Anything that can already be done in Final Cut Studio should be gone, including Premiere and Soundbooth. I’m not sure if After Effects would even be worth it in the end. Most believe that Final Cut is a very nice video suite on the Mac platform and in the PC world, AVID holds the crown. Why is a program like Premiere needed? It’s not quite AVID but way better than Windows Movie Maker. Now throw Sony Vegas in there and it’s starting to get crowded. Apple could create Final Cut for the PC or forget about them altogether. This would come down to money in the long run. I personally don’t think Apple needs to worry about the PC side unless they are going to legitimately compete against AVID for dominance.

Design

Photoshop and Illustrator go hand in hand with Apple. The general public thinks of Apple when Photoshop is mentioned and vice versa. This is known as one of Apple’s strongest markets. Most believe that these design apps run better on a Mac but as we know, Adobe is slow in keeping these flagship apps on the cutting edge. Apple could force them to be designed for the latest and greatest environments. While they’re at it, stop releasing new versions every year that don’t have any significant improvements. Adobe needs the money to keep rolling in through yearly revisions but Apple wouldn’t have this problem. Make a new version when real features are created. In an educational environment, we are forced to upgrade every year because the textbooks only cover the newest versions. This puts a large strain on software budgets.

Documents

Acrobat should also be restructured and brought back to its core purpose. Every other week we hear of an exploit in PDF’s and it’s because they don’t do the simple task they were conceived to do. Strip out all the extra junk and just make PDF’s do what they need to do. Reader should be killed for the Mac OS also, Preview is way quicker and does the job just fine.

Flash

Then there’s the elephant in the room, Flash. Oh my dear old friend, you were once so cool. Animations, games, crazy navigation menus and long site intros were such a treat. Now I have grown bored with you.

The problem is that Flash is so ubiquitous with the web that it can’t just be tossed out into the street. Apple would need to clean it up significantly and keep it around until HTML5 took over. They should only provide security fixes but no new features. This would allow it a peaceful death.

Adobe has so many products that it’s kind of ridiculous. Most of them could either be worked into existing Apple products or forgotten forever. If Apple did purchase Adobe, what about the PC side of Adobe’s business? They would have to crunch the numbers to see what products are worth the extra cost of development, but Apple could really limit what’s available for Windows. Whether that would that be a good or bad thing, I’m not really sure. In Apple’s mind, if it sells more Macs then it’s worth doing.

I believe Apple could really improve Adobe’s products and make them more reliable than they ever have been. It would end the grudge that they have against each other and hopefully get applications like Acrobat and Flash back to their roots. Adding useless features just to sell a different version every year will not win you any fans. Make it a worthwhile upgrade or inexpensive and I will gladly support you.

Think the semantic web is all hype with no bite? Paul Allen backed semantic startup Evri will announce tomorrow that it has been acquired, we've learned from a reliable source. The service specializes in extracting the names of people, places and things from raw streams of text in order to facilitate smart user navigation and related content recommendation. The company launched a striking new version of its website earlier today.

Evri launched just short of two years ago and raised $8 million from Vulcan, the fund of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. More interesting than the business side of this story, though, is the technology. Evri brings the semantic and the real-time web together in some very interesting ways.

Sponsor

We profiled Evri as one of 10 intriguing companies in the real-time web space in our recent research report The Real-Time Web and Its Future. Also included was the now Google-acquired Aardvark. (See our coverage: How I Loved and Lost an Aardvark)

Here's how we described the real time part of what Evri does in that report:

Evri is a semantic Web recommendation service for online publishers. The company tracks the real-time Web to know when it needs to create or update a topic page for one of its emerging news topics.

Evri watches news sources to see when a news topic is trending, including articles on Wikipedia that publicly available data shows have leaped in page views. Then it visits structured databases like Wikipedia and FreeBase to check for updates to entries about related entities. It then creates or updates a topic page with news links, photos and Twitter search results. The language used in those Twitter posts is analyzed and the names of news entities in the posts are linked to other Evri topic pages, like pivots.

Evri has done lots of other things as well, including a blog widget, an iPhone app, automated content portals for publishers and a sentiment analysis product. The company didn't see a particularly large amount of hype but was closely watched. Robert Scoble, for example, named Evri one of his top startups to watch for 2010, even a year and a half after it launched.

We haven't been able to identify the company that has acquired Evri yet but the most obvious candidate would be its neighbor and kin Microsoft, where the service would compliment the Powerset team nicely and change the Bing user experience in news search dramatically. Now that we know that Google is working on building a real-time index of the web (our coverage) the prospect of a competitor upping the ante with near real-time semantic parsing, riding on top of real-time indexing, sounds like a hot move.

A number of people have raised the possibility of an Amazon acquisition as well. Evri was also tested out by Yahoo! starting last Fall as a way to facilitate navigation throughout its Sports content pages.

Take that, semantic web doubters.

We'll update this post when the acquiring party is identified. Geeky types interested in an in-depth explanation of Evri's work would be well served by checking out a 6 part video series on YouTube wherein Deep Dhillon, CTO of Evri, discusses the company's technology with students at the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering.

Discuss

Google Reader Play, c’est le nom de la nouvelle vue qu’offre Google Reader. Quelle est la différence entre Play et la vue traditionnelle? Et bien, lorsque vous utilisez Play, l’information s’affiche sous la forme d’un diaporama. L’accent est mis sur les photos et les vidéos présentes dans un billet.

Vous n’êtes pas obligé d’utiliser Google Reader pour accéder à Play. Cependant, si le lecteur RSS de Google est l’une de vos destinations quotidiennes, Play devrait en théorie vous offrir du contenu qui vous intéressera. Ce service analyse ce que vous ajoutez à votre liste de suivi et le contenu que vous et vos contacts partagez sur ce service.

Google Reader Play n’est en fait rien de plus qu’une nouvelle vue. Malgré son interface minimaliste, Play offre tout de même quelques fonctionnalités de base. Il est possible d’ajouter du contenu à la liste de suivi et de le partager avec votre réseau.

Vous pouvez atteindre Play en cliquant ici ou encore en sélectionnant  l’un des flux présents sur votre compte Google Reader. Cliquez sur le bouton droit et sélectionnez «View in Reader Play». Notez que cette nouveauté est pour l’instant uniquement disponible sur la version anglaise de Google Reader.
Benoit Descary

Source: Bolgue de Google Reader

Le texte, dans l'évaluation ou dans le calcul de l'objet qui s'élabore; le texte qui rend possible d'affirmer qu'il s'écrit dans le cadre de certaines règles syntaxiques, grammaticales, lexicales etc. ce texte nous oblige à tenir compte de ce qui dans l'écriture numérique est de l'ordre du code, de la répétition, du programme; c'est-à-dire de ce qui dans l'écriture la rend possible tout en l'écartant irrémédiablement de son origine, à savoir l'unique fois, l'unique instant où j'ai décidé une fois pour toutes d'écrire ce texte plutôt qu'un autre.

A notre époque de la textualité sur écran, l'attachement à la notion de < rhétorique d'oeuvre écrite > nous suggère moins la considération des particularités ou des effets d'ornementation d'un auteur ou d'un genre, que la nécessité actuelle de penser la transformation qui se fait entre domaine rhétorique et domaine théorique. La rhétorique hypertextuelle  - pour peu que nous parvenions à fonder ce concept dans un genre théorique qui doit de toute façon sa forme à une certaine manière de rhétoricité - réalise une certain changement dans la forme entre la rhétorique et le concept. Entre la matière informatique du traitement de texte (l'aspect sensible de la lettre qui apparait sur l'écran) et la forme que le logiciel imprime au texte (l'aspect intelligible), entre le prétendu détour rhétorique et l'habituel neutralité conceptuelle qui va droit à la démonstration.

Il s'agit donc de réfléchir moins à l'identité ou la différence qui sépare rhétorique (figures et tropes employées dans un texte) et philosophie (réflexion et théorie), à leur adéquation réciproque, qu' à la transformation qui se fait entre eux dans leurs rapports respectifs, c'est-à-dire de chercher ce qui dans l'hypertexte met en relation l'expérience du corps rhétorique du texte, de ses opérations textuelles, et l'expérience du sens et de la signification que ces opérations réalisent et expriment.

Rejoignez le Journal de l'Hypertexte en anglais (posts du jour différents de ceux ici présents) -
Connectez-vous sur hypertextual.net l'Hypertexte Principal de la Solution -

Tous les eBooks accessibles sur

Entrez dans la Bibliothèque pour readers mobiles de Phonereader.eu
Jean-Philippe Pastor

 
 

Loin de moi l'idée de tirer sur Internet. Pas mon genre.Encore moins de faire la morale aux blogueurs et aux webjournalistes qui se sont amusés autour de cette "loverumor", cette #brulaybullshit au sommet.Ce qui est intéressant dans la façon dont cette rumeur, qui circulait dans toutes les rédactions (et qui ne s'appuie sur aucune information avérée), est devenu un buzz international via Twitter

Tour d'horizon pour lire de la littérature sur l'iPhone, c'est sur WebTvCulture ce mois-ci.

Yesterday brought news that Facebook is planning to launch its location offering at its f8 conference in the end of April. In first reporting the news, the New York Times noted that “the company was not trying to beat the smaller location-based social networks, such as Loopt, Foursquare and Gowalla.” From what we’re hearing, that’s true — because they could be using some of those services to federate check-ins.

How do we know? Because it appears that a Facebook employee has been showing the app around to friends. One person who has seen it notes that the icon for the location feature has a pushpin on a map. This was apparently a beta version of an app, but the functionality, if Facebook chooses to go with it, would likely be built into the massively popular Facebook iPhone app.

When reached for comment, all Facebook would say is, “We are constantly experimenting with new ideas and products internally. We don’t have anything more to share at this time.” That’s not exactly a denial at all.

What Foursquare and Gowalla (the two location apps specifically cited by a source) had to say was more interesting. Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley danced around the idea of working with Facebook on such a feature, but notes that anyone can access their check-in data through Foursquare’s API. And in fact, plenty of users are already pushing their check-ins to Facebook through Connect, he notes. Also, this page is sort of interesting. It’s what we call a placeholder.

Meanwhile, Gowalla founder Josh Williams said a bit more:

It’s no surprise that Facebook is wading into the location waters (cannonball!) — our ultimate goal at Gowalla is to provide the easiest and most fun way to share location with friends, regardless of where that information is distributed… Facebook, Twitter, etc. It will be important for folks like Facebook and Twitter to clearly spell out how this information is used and displayed.

That suggests that both Facebook and Twitter have been looking at ways to import check-in data. Twitter already syndicates the data through its Geolocation API, but as more and more players get involved in the space, it wouldn’t be surprising at all for the upstart players like Gowalla and Foursquare to ask the platforms (Facebook and Twitter) to make it more clear which data is being sent from where. And make no mistake, based on what we’re hearing, that’s exactly what Facebook aims to be with location: a platform. Yes, like their good buddies Twitter.

[photo: flickr/24oranges.nl]

This year’s South By Southwest (SXSW) festival is rapidly approaching. Beginning with the Interactive Media events on March 12th, Austin, Texas will be the place to connect with the brightest in tech and media and get the scoop on some exciting new ventures.

Whether you plan to physically attend or not, social media will be critical to how people connect and share ideas at this world-class event. If you want to keep in touch with all the goings-on, look no further than these tools that you can use on the web, your mobile device, and your favorite social networks.

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For Those Headed to Austin

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While in-person networking is the goal of many, social media will be key in bringing interested parties together across this vast festival that this year is spread across four separate campuses. If you’ll be in attendance, check out these resources for staying connected.

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The Official SXSW First-Timers Guide

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If you’re brand new to SXSW and feeling a bit overwhelmed at the scope, the first-timers guide has a wealth of resources to assist the uninitiated. These include links to online registration (if you still need to sign up), hotel booking, scheduling tools, maps, and this informative video.

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my.SXSW and QR Coded Badges

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The official social network of the festival is my.SXSW, and you are automatically invited to join upon registering. This closed network, just for attendees, allows users to build personalized conference schedules, join exclusive groups, and connect with others at the festival.

The addition of QR codes on registered badges gives attendees with smartphones an added way to solidify in-person connections. Simply scan a new friend’s personalized QR code and you’ll automatically be following him or her within the my.SXSW network.

For additional ways to utilize the my.SXSW network, check out the info on their tools page.

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SXSW2010 Event Calendar on sched.org

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Sched.org is an interactive calendar with social media integration that makes it ideal for festivals like SXSW. An “unofficial” but highly useful calendar has been created for SXSW that will give you an overview of each day’s events, talks and panels.

Sign in with Facebook Connect or Twitter and start compiling a list of the events you’ll be attending. By clicking on a particular event, you can also see who else is attending, and view real-time updates about the event from other attendees on social networks. With a bit of effort, this tool could become your go-to social dashboard and connection builder for the entire festival.

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SitBy.Us

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Social media aficionados will be converging on Austin from all over the U.S. and the world. It’s likely that some of your Twitter friends will be in attendance while you’re there.

Don’t let an opportunity for an in-person meeting slip by. SitBy.Us is a useful tool that lets you see which panels your Twitter friends will be attending, and even where in each room they will sit.

By logging in with your Twitter account (via OAuth), SitBy.Us provides a mobile-optimized web interface that allows you to plan and coordinate panel attendance with people you’re looking to connect with in person (and perhaps even avoid those you don’t!).

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SXSW Badges for Foursquare

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Foursquare has created 16 new SXSW-specific badges for those location-based networkers who are Austin bound. What’s more, if you do unlock a badge, you can track down a Foursquare team member at the festival and claim a temporary tattoo with the mark of honor.

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Cliqset’s SXSW Map

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Cliqset.com has created a real-time map that aggregates all of the geo-tagged activity in the festival area of Austin. Pulling in data from the major location-based social networks (Brightkite, Flickr, Foursquare, Gowalla, Qik, and Twitter), the map will give you a bird’s eye view of who is at SXSW, where they are, and what they’re doing.

Click a pinpoint on the map to expand the user’s status update. It should be interesting to see the map fill up with notes come festival time this Friday.

Disclosure: Cliqset is a Mashable sponsor

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Mashable’s Austin Real-Time

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Looking to connect with like-minded festival goers or other attendees from your hometown? Check out Mashable’s own Austin Real-Time Network. Sign in with your Twitter, Facebook, or Cliqset ID and browse or search for other festival patrons by common interest or location. By adding yourself to the network, you can also share what you’re doing and where you are via your favorite social networks.

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For Those Who Will Watch from Afar

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If you’re not able to make it to Austin this year, don’t fret. The magic of social media and the web can bring the festival within reach. While you may not be able to hob-knob with your favorite tech and music geeks in the warm Austin sun, you can still get your SXSW fix with these resources.

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The Official SXSW Twitter and Facebook Accounts

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Being the socially-savvy team that they are, the crew behind the festival does a good job keeping their fans and followers in the know. If you want to keep an eye on developments in Austin, be sure to add these official channels to your social feeds.

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SXSW Videos

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Though not officially connected to the festival, SXSW Videos is a user-generated destination for footage from the event.

Powered by Viddler, the site lets you browse videos that come out of SXSW (in various categories, including Interviews, Shows, Bands, etc.) as well as upload your own if you’re in attendance.

The content can be a bit of a grab-bag, but if you’re looking for some first-hand video accounts of what’s happening on the ground, check in there every once in a while.

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SXSW Blogs

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Searching for other ways to live vicariously through the SXSW attendees? Dedicated blogs are a good way to stay in the loop.

The Unofficial SXSW Insider’s Guide is a blog/community built with Ning where festival attendees (and interested parties who couldn’t make it) can blog, upload photos, and discuss events.

You can browse the site blog-style to see what people are up to, or connect with individual members to get a more social scoop.

SXSW Baby is another unofficial blog that will be covering the events throughout the festival.

Currently, they have quite a few tips for those who are enroute to Austin. But if you’ll be checking in from home, stay tuned for further updates as the festival kicks off this Friday.

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Mashable’s SXSWi Channel

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Of course you can always stay up to date on the latest news coming from Austin with Mashable’s own channel, dedicated to the Interactive Media portion of the festival. Members of our team will be on the ground in Austin to get you the social media and tech scoops that are sure to break in the days ahead.

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More SXSW resources from Mashable:

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- 3 Things to Do Before MashBash SXSWi This Sunday Night

- Coming to SXSW? Add Yourself to Austin Realtime!

Tags: BLOGS, cliqset, facebook, festival, foursquare, gowalla, location-based, networking, ning, social media, social networks, sxsw, sxsw2010, twitter

Whenever I meet someone who finds out that I work on the directions team for Google Maps, the first question I'm asked is often "So when's Google Maps going to add biking directions?" We're big biking fans too, so we've been itching to give you a concrete answer. I don't want to keep the good news a secret any longer, so the answer is: right now!

Today we've added biking directions and extensive bike trail data to Google Maps for the U.S. My team has been keeping close tabs on all the public support for biking directions that’s been steadily coming in, but we knew that when we added the feature, we wanted to do it right: we wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes. So that's exactly what we've done.

Let's say you want to bike to work, or maybe you want to drive less and spend more time outdoors. Biking directions can help you find a convenient and efficient route that makes use of dedicated bike trails or lanes and avoids hills whenever possible. To find biking directions, select "Bicycling" from the drop-down menu when you do a directions search:


So, how does it work? Well, I'm based in Seattle, along with the rest of the biking directions team. The city is notoriously hilly, but also has some great trails and a strong cycling community. Let's say I'm trying to get from Golden Gardens to a friend's house in Montlake:


This route avoids hills (phew!) and puts me on the Burke-Gilman trail for most of the journey. When I need to get off the trail to cross town, biking directions makes sure to keep me on bike-friendly roads and avoid some of the city's busiest intersections. The time estimate for the route is based on a complex set of variables accounting for the type of road, terrain and turns over the course of my ride. If I decide that I want to stop at Woodland Park Zoo along the way, I can click on the blue path and drag it to my desired route — just like with driving directions — and we'll still customize the journey for cycling suitability. Over on the Lat Long Blog, you can read more about all the unique tweaks and calculations factored into our routing algorithm.

We've also added information about bike trails, lanes and recommended roads directly onto the map. This can help you get a better sense of your route, or let you find trails nearby for a recreational ride. When you're zoomed into a city, click on the "More" button at the top of the map to turn on the "Bicycling” layer. You'll see three types of lines appear on the map:

• Dark green indicates a dedicated bike-only trail;
• Light green indicates a dedicated bike lane along a road;
• Dashed green indicates roads that are designated as preferred for bicycling, but without dedicated lanes

Thanks primarily to our partnership with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, we now have more than 12,000 miles of trails included in biking directions and outlined directly on the map. We also have data on bike lanes and recommended streets for 150 cities across the country. We'll continue to add new trail information and encourage riders to send feedback (biking directions is in beta, after all) and route information for inclusion via the “Report a Problem” tool. When Map Maker is available in the U.S., all riders will be able to directly contribute their local knowledge about trails, bike lanes and suggested routes.

We know that many of you have been anxiously awaiting this feature, so head over to http://maps.google.com/biking to try it for yourself and then hop on your bike!

Posted by Shannon Guymon, Product Manager

Regular readers will know my love for all things location. In particular, these check-in location-based services fascinate me, mainly because I see them as a bridge between social networks as we’ve known it, and actual social interaction in the real world. Foursquare has been my app of choice over the past year (it launched almost exactly a year ago at SXSW). But the latest version of Gowalla has me thinking about switching sides. At the very least, I’ll be using both at all times now.

Gowalla version 2.0 for the iPhone just hit the App Store today. With it, you’ll notice a few different things. First and foremost, the overall look has been updated from a sort of Army green, to a more subtle light green that is much easier on the eyes. More significantly, the toolbar has been reworked so that now social activity is front and center when you load the app, while your own activity is the last tab. Both of these changes are things I’ve complained about since day one with Gowalla, so they’re certainly welcome. But that’s not why I’m excited for the app. I’m excited because it takes the idea of the check-in and extends it.

Specifically, you can now add pictures and comments to check-ins in Gowalla. This makes for a much richer social experience both using the app and the website (the data goes over there as well). As founder and CEO Josh Williams describes in the video below, there were a lot of people who wanted to talk about the social activity on Gowalla, but previously they had to text message or email their friends to say something like “hey I saw you check-in at the restaurant, want some company?” Now, that type of dialogue can take place all within the app.

Now, others have tried to add additional layers to check-ins in the past. Why I think it works with Gowalla 2.0 is because they keep it simple. The application is extremely handsome (since the beginning, everyone is quick to note how good the designers are working for the team) and intuitive. There are only a few basic things you can do, and all are obvious from the main screen. You can either check-in at a venue, comment on your friends’ check-ins (with the new chat bubble in the stream), look at the spots around you, see trips (pre-planned venue excursions), or look at your own activity.

Previously, with Gowalla, I thought the focus was too much on their virtual items. Those are now tucked away in your Passport (your profile). They’re still important, and will be increasingly so for Gowalla’s revenue model (trading virtual goods for real-world items), but they’re not in your face, confusing users.

All that said, there are two downsides still to the service. First, the social activity stream includes everybody that your friends with. With Foursquare, the people currently in the same city as you are highlighted; Gowalla doesn’t do that. I suspect that will be very annoying to my friends not going to Austin this week for SXSW. Their stream will be a constant reminder that they’re not there — and they likely could care less about my check-ins, since they can’t possibly come and meet me.

The second downside is that Gowalla’s API remains read-only. That means while other services can pull out Gowalla’s data, they can’t put anything back in. That means there will be no Gowalla apps besides the ones they make (at least for now). Williams explained the rationale behind this as Gowalla wants to stay in control of the user experience (a rather Apple-like argument). That makes some sense, since there are all these virtual goods that will be flying around, and it will be hard to make sure every third-party app is implementing them correctly. Also, Gowalla is much more strict about its location-based check-ins then say, Foursquare. They’re so strict, in fact, that it’s been an issue in the past (and in some cases, still is), with people not being able to check-in places they’re actually at because the GPS is wonky. At the same time, this helps a lot with gaming the system, and that will be increasingly important as Gowalla strikes deals with partners based around check-ins.

Listen to Williams talk more about the new app, as well as his thoughts on AT&T’s network, some SXSW specials, rivals, and yes, even the news that Facebook is apparently looking at federating some of Gowalla’s (and Foursquare’s) data for its own location offering. He also notes that with the new release, Gowalla is expanding the idea of checking-in to be more of a bucket of elements now, including images and comments. Interesting. (Sorry in advance that I shot the video vertically on my iPhone — gotta stop doing that.)

You can find Gowalla 2.0 in the App Store here. It’s a free download.

Dozens of new cafes and coffee bars treat coffee making like an art, or at least a high form of craft.

Impressionnant, ce boîtier PC proposé par Lian Li, le PC-T1R, dont le design est inspiré par celui… d’une araignée. Toujours est-il que le boîtier devrait être prochainement disponible à la vente, et qu’il sera capable d’accueillir une carte-mère mATX, un lecteur de disques, un disque dur et j’en passe (toutes les pièces utiles au bon fonctionnement d’un PC en fait…)

Prix annoncé : 150€.

Lire la suite..

Whatever happened to that dreamy Line 6 / Apple tie-up? Who knows, right? While those two sort out their future behind the scenes, Paul Reed Smith Guitars is stepping up to take advantage of an obvious market opportunity. The newly announced Guitarbud is a simplistic accessory that allows axe slingers to jack their guitar into an iPhone or second-generation iPod touch, all while providing a headphone output in order to keep the noise making to yourself. We're told that the device works with pretty much any recording-supported app (even Apple's own Voice Memos), though PRS obviously recommends that you check out its JamApp guitar amp simulator / tuner / training tool. Best of all, it's available today for £29.95 (or $29.95 here in the States), putting you just a few yard mowings away from securing your own personal aural sanctuary. Too bad the reviews from early adopters aren't so promising...

PRS Guitarbud jacks your axe, ego into iPhone / iPod touch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink ShinyShiny  |  MusicRadar, Musician's Friend  | Email this | Comments

Sur les conseils de Marlène (merci, ça valait le déplacement), je me suis rendu lundi à la Mission Permanente des Etats-Unis à Genève, pour assister à une présentation de Michael Stephens, organisée par l’AILIS.
Michael Stephens est « Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois » et anime le blog « Tame the Web« . Il a été consacré « Library Journal Movers & Shakers » en 2005, ça vous pose le personnage.
Sa présentation portait sur « The Hyperlinked Community Library – Trends, Tools & Transparency« .

En introduction, Michael Stephens rappelle les bouleversements induits par Internet pour notre profession, mais également dans les pratiques de nos usagers : Ils font aujourd’hui un usage des réseaux qui n’est pas (encore?) le nôtre. Il insiste sur les réseaux sociaux, et se demande où sont les bibliothèques, au moment où MySpace, Facebook et YouTube attirent chaque mois plus de 250 millions de visiteurs uniques. A titre d’exemple, Michael Stephens cite la Lawrence Tech Library et sa campagne d’information à l’occasion de son arrivée sur les réseaux sociaux (diapo 16 de sa présentation) et la Digital Collection de Cornell.
Ensuite, M. Stephens insiste sur un point essentiel à ses yeux, la transparence, qui implique la communication, à la fois en direction des usagers, mais également à destination des équipes de la bibliothèques. En résumé, on dit ce qu’on fait, comment on le fait, avec qui on le fait : on le bloggue, on le tweete, on l’affiche sur son site Web, sa page Facebook, « the transparent library has no secrets« . Cette idée de la transparence sous-tend celle de l’ouverture, de l’écoute des besoins, aussi bien des usagers que des équipes « do we hear our users and staff when they ask for change and new services? » A titre d’exemple : VBPL Talks « a forum for staff questions and comments« .
Michael Stephens rappelle ensuite l’importance de la bibliothèque en tant que lieu d’accueil (et de travail). La bibliothèque doit être accueillante, chaleureuse, pas ce que fait Teen Central « This desk is for staff use only« … (diapo 42). Stephens recommande de faire un « kindness audit », voir sa bibliothèque avec les yeux de l’usager, se mettre à sa place physiquement dans la bibliothèque.
Ensuite M. Stephens traite de la révolution « mobile » avec l’irruption des smartphones et autres readers (la « tablet mania« …), rappelant que les bibliothèques doivent s’adapter à ces nouveaux usages, présentant la « Duke University Library Digital Collection iPhone App« .
Michael Stephens pointe ensuite la nécessaire formation des équipes de bibliothécaires, citant le programme Learning 2.0, avec des prix incitatifs allant du lecteur MP3 à pouvoir disposer de la place de parking de son directeur…
Il insiste également beaucoup sur l’idée de « communauté d’usagers », que la bibliothèque doit fédérer, aussi bien pour ses aspects virtuels que physiques, et surtout animer. Cette communauté doit pouvoir investir la bibliothèque physique, mais également les services en ligne : annoter, taguer, recommander des documents sur le catalogue, commenter sur le blog, etc…

Pour finir, il évoque l’un des effets de la crise pour les bibliothèques américaines, qui voient leur fréquentation augmenter, leur accès et les informations qui y sont disponibles étant gratuites… Comme professeur, Michael Stephens assiste à un changement dans la sociologie de ses étudiants en sciences de l’information et des bibliothèques : certains de ses étudiants sont là pour envisager une reconversion, voulue ou subie suite à la crise…
Enfin, puisqu’on en est aux questions d’argent, a été évoquée l’idée du merchandising des bibliothèques via des sites comme CafePress ou Zazzle, où elles pourraient vendre des produits dérivés de leurs fonds (iconographiques libres de droits).

Une intervention très intéressante, faite par quelqu’un de passionné et disponible, à l’enthousiasme communicatif. Y’a plus qu’à maintenant.

photos : page Facebook de la Mission Permanente des Etats-Unis à Genève.