Contenu du sommaire : Document et musée : du discours sur l'œuvre à la médiation culturelle

Open museum doors, get familiar with how they function, discover and observe how information is produced, these privileges are reserved for institutional professionals and a handful of researchers. In fact, the production, dissemination and consultation of museum documentation is often misunderstood - they represent a different approach to a work of art or museum object than what is usually offered to the general public. Our dossier describes the practices of museum documentation professionals, as we seek to demonstrate that such production can act as the pivot between the internal organization of a museum and its mission as cultural mediator.

1. Documentation at the heart of the museum
Our opening section concerns the role of documentation in an organization - its actors, processes, objects, forms, supports and standards - to further enhance our understanding of the role of documentation and the principal stakes in the shift to computerization, in particular in museum organizational processes. It is only recently that information professionals have taken on a key role in museums. Although three specific roles were established by the Cultural Ministry in 1978, they differ from one establishment to the next. Such organizational diversity at the heart of museums illustrate just how specific this function is.

2. The document and professions associated with works of art
This second section addresses the issue of how documentation is used within a museum but also how knowledge is shared via networks. More broadly, we analyse how documentation transmits, assists and guides professionals who are closely or remotely in contact with a work of art. Cross-metier information and communication functions in museums are based on a concept of shared information practices in which each intervention, through an association of techniques and mediation, finds its own necessity.

3. From Documentation to Mediation Our third section discusses data and information coordination, open cultural data and more widely, the issues that arise when new digital media are used by both museums and the general public. The growing place taken by the social and educational role of museums has been amply demonstrated. The value linked to knowledge of collections is today closely relayed by public missions and innovative pilot projects.

Adolescents, their teachers and wikipedia - depictions in tension of a unique information object
The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is a heavily used resource, especially by high school and college students, whether for school work or personal reasons. However, for most teachers and information professionals, the jury is still out on the validity of its contents. Are young persons aware of its controversial reputation ? What opinions, negative or positive, do they hold ? How much confidence do they place in this information resource ? This survey of high school and college students undertaken by Gilles Sahut provides an opportunity to grasp the diversity of attitudes towards Wikipedia and also how these evolve as the students move up the grade ladder. More widely, this article studies the factors that condition the degree of acceptability of the contents of this unusual source of information.