This research study looks at digital academic space, which is defined here as web-based digitally mediated artifacts produced by universities and their members. Open source software projects and the Open Access movement play large roles within digital academic space, not only because of their strong historical academic roots, but also because these projects are growing in prevalence in many universities. Framed by theories from the field of higher education and media studies, this research study is an analysis of the dynamics and effects of one open source software project that produces Open Access electronic journals. The software system, called the Open Journal Systems (OJS), originally developed by an education professor from a Canadian university, has been adopted by thousands of universities world- wide to publish electronic peer reviewed academic journals. OJS users distributed at universities throughout the world have contributed software code back to the system, by for example, creating translation modules enabling users to publish journals in a range of languages thus adding an interesting global dimension to the project. Based on interviews with the OJS software developers, administrators, and users, as well as a range of material culled from online, this situational analysis of the OJS sketches out the conditions, dynamics, discourses and professional identities that form the basis of an emerging phenomenon within universities that is named here the digitally mediated open research project (DMORP

This research study looks at digital academic space, which is defined here as web-based digitally mediated artifacts produced by universities and their members. Open source software projects and the Open Access movement play large roles within digital academic space, not only because of their strong historical academic roots, but also because these projects are growing in prevalence in many universities. Framed by theories from the field of higher education and media studies, this research study is an analysis of the dynamics and effects of one open source software project that produces Open Access electronic journals. The software system, called the Open Journal Systems (OJS), originally developed by an education professor from a Canadian university, has been adopted by thousands of universities world- wide to publish electronic peer reviewed academic journals. OJS users distributed at universities throughout the world have contributed software code back to the system, by for example, creating translation modules enabling users to publish journals in a range of languages thus adding an interesting global dimension to the project. Based on interviews with the OJS software developers, administrators, and users, as well as a range of material culled from online, this situational analysis of the OJS sketches out the conditions, dynamics, discourses and professional identities that form the basis of an emerging phenomenon within universities that is named here the digitally mediated open research project (DMORP

La thèse, qui pose la question de la description du roman et envisage une réponse par l’interrogation d’une problématique documentaire (proposition d’un modèle théorique de représentation, base pour la conception et la réalisation d’outils de navigation raisonnée dans la fiction) conduit une réflexion sur la place de la fiction littéraire dans la construction des savoirs et, par extension, d’une culture. La réflexion et l’expérimentation se font dans le contexte scolaire du lycée d’enseignement général (définition du statut du roman dans l’utilisation qui en est faite dans les programmes et objectifs d’enseignement, analyse de la notion de lecture littéraire en lycée) et par l’analyse d’un corpus de textes : étude de La mystérieuse flamme de la Reine Loana / Umberto Eco, 2004, traduction française, Paris, Grasset et Fasquelle, 2005, doublée de l’étude d’un corpus aléatoire sur le thème de la Shoah. L’objet d’étude étant le roman, les liens entre les Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication et la sémiotique sont abordés sous un jour nouveau : construction d’une théorie sémiotique (définition, mise en place d’un langage formel, choix d’un système de représentation) adaptée à l’objet d’étude par l’explicitation des conditions de production de sens, ce qui implique une hybridation des champs (SIC et théories d’analyse littéraire). Sont développés les éléments théoriques pour un modèle de représentation de la fiction. Les définitions du roman, de la fiction littéraire narrative, de l’information, de la fictiologie (nouveau champ de recherche ouvert par l’étude) et de l'information fictiologique critique, complétées par une description du positionnement dans le champ des Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, posent le cadre de la réflexion. Un chapitre traitant de la littérature et de la notion de mémoire permet de décrire les liens entre roman et représentation de la réalité. Pour cela, sont définies et étudiées les notions de texte, de référence et de contexte. Enfin, est explicité le titre de la thèse par la description de la faculté imaginale et de la fonction de médiation prêtées au roman. Pour clôturer cette partie d’étude, un état de l’art de la classification de la fiction est opéré par l’élaboration d’un panorama des outils proposés et utilisés, renforcé par la définition d’une recherche ouverte d’information et une étude de la notion de sens dans le traitement de la fiction. Les analyses dans le champ pratique comportent un compte-rendu d’enquêtes, menées dans le cadre de l’enseignement secondaire et de la formation des documentalistes de l’Education Nationale, sur les pratiques de lecture. L’analyse des corpus de textes permet d’interroger la problématique de la réalité visible dans le roman. Ces travaux expérimentent une ontologie fictiologique par une analyse du roman comme document et un essai de formalisation sur la littérature des camps. La proposition d’un modèle théorique à expérimenter se concrétise par l’élaboration d’un système d’organisation de connaissances info-littéraires. Une réflexion sur l’environnement technique actuel justifie les choix retenus, les propositions et solutions réfléchies. En présentant une littératie fictiologique, prolongement de la littératie médiatique, la thèse se clôture par la description d’une médiation fictiologique qui s’ancre dans une renégociation des espaces et des typologies documentaires, investiguant les pratiques participatives et collaboratives. / The dissertation, which investigates the description of the novel and considers an answer by interrogating an information problem (offering a theoretical model of representation, a basis for the conception and creation of tools for a carefully thought out navigation within fiction), carries out a reflection about the role of literary fiction in the construction of bodies of knowledge and, by extension, of a culture. These reflection and experimentation take place in the school context of the “lycee d’enseignement general” [mainstream education high school] (definition of the status of the novel in the way that it is used in education programs and objectives, analysis of the notion of literary reading in high school) and through the analysis of a body of texts: study of La Mysterieuse Flamme de la Reine Loana / Umberto Eco, 2004, French translation, Paris, Grasset et Fasquelle, 2005, combined with the study of an unpredictable collection of texts about the theme of the Shoah. Since the object of study is the novel, the links between Information and Communication Sciences and semiotics are approached in a new light: construction of a semiotic theory (definition, setting up of a formal language, choice of a representation system) made suitable to the object of study by clarifying the conditions of meaning production, which implies a hybridization of the fields (Information and Communication Sciences and literary analysis). The theoretical elements for a representation model of fiction are developed. Definitions of the novel, of literary narrative fiction, of information, of fictiology (a new field of research opened up by the study) and of critical fictiological information, complemented by a description of positioning of this research in the field of Information and Communication Sciences, frame the reflection. A chapter tackling literature and the notion of memory allows for a delineation of the links between novel and representation of reality. For this purpose, the notions of text, reference, and context are defined. Finally, the title of the dissertation is explained through the description of the imaginal faculty, and of the mediation function attributed to the novel. To close this part of the study, drafting a panorama of the proposed and employed tools helps operate a state of the art of fiction classification, reinforced by the definition of an open information research and a study of the notion of meaning in the handling of fiction. Analyses in the practical field include a report of investigations on reading practices conducted in the contexts of secondary education and of the training of ‘Education Nationale’ information librarians. Analyzing bodies of texts allows the problem of visible reality in the novel to be interrogated. This research tests out a fictiologic ontology by examining the novel as document and by attempting a formalization of the camps literature. The proposition of a theoretical model to be experimented is concretized by the development of a system of organization of information and literary knowledge. A reflection on the current technical environment justifies the choices considered, the propositions and solutions offered. By presenting a fictiological information literaty, an extension of media information literaty, the dissertation ends with the description of fictiological mediation anchored into a renegotiation of information spaces and typologies, investigating participatory and collaborative practices.