Contenu du sommaire : La curation

The library and information science sector has over the last two decades been subject to a series of reassessments. The « culprit » is of course « digital technologies » that thanks to its armed wing Internet have infiltrated all sectors of professional and leisure activity in our society and rearranged the borders between public and private spheres and between the workplace and the home. The latest symptom is « curation » which in recent months has been the object of heated debate and discussion aimed at defining its relevance and legitimacy. It was fitting that Documentaliste prepare a detailed dossier bringing together numerous actors from a variety of backgrounds. Curation goes beyond the latest fad, inviting us to examine further than the « buzz » staring us in the face. Curation, born from a marriage of profane web use and « orthodox » professional practice, has drawn our attention to the fact that it is no longer possible to remain within familiar territory. The information professional must become an explorer; may our dossier be his compass! Whether it's the future of the web or just a waste of time, you cannot remain indifferent to curation. Person to person content-sharing constitutes a massive phenomenon that the information professional cannot ignore.

The many-sided aspects of curation Whether it's the future of the web or just a waste of time, you cannot remain indifferent to curation. Person to person content-sharing constitutes a massive phenomenon that the information professional cannot ignore.

Stakes and dimensions The first part of this dossier analyzes the stakes and dimensions of curation, on the web or in an organization, and how curation is part of the classic information provision fonction. Curation is like many other buzzwords or fashionable neologisms, and since its appearance towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the term is the subject of numerous discussions in both the virtual and « real » worlds where it is praised as frequently as it is damned. Is curation the final artefact in processing and reprocessing a document in the digital world? Is it a new profession? an individual practice? a collective practice? This article assesses the stakes and dimensions of curation, on the web or in an enterprise, and its links with classic information retrieval.

At organizational level
The second section of this dossier is dedicated to illustrating the broad scope of curation and its different aspects in corporations and other organizations. Sometimes considered to be a time-waster at individual level, curation can become an important lever for development within companies, provided it has proper support.

Is serendity a skill? A 2008 survey of 50 middle and high school students forms the basis of a study of how young internet users look for information on the web. Some users will surf the web freely, while those who are less selfassured and afraid of losing their way won't venture beyond the beaten track. Being able to go towards the unknown, open to new experience and knowledge, and receptive to serendipity : these qualities reinforce the development by these adolescents of researchbased strategies rather than a results-based approach.