OMIC - International Conference "Transformations in the Cultural and Media Industries (CMI )"

	Aim and scope

	Since the end of the eighties the Cultural and Media Industries have undergone profound change. Some of these transformations have been rather spectacular and have received extensive attention in the media, and been commented on by experts, policy makers and economic decision-makers. Among the themes which have been most frequently discussed one might mention notably : the move towards deregulation; the various huge merger operations bringing together industrial groups and financial centres which have lead, against a background of globalisation, to an unprecedented degree of concentration; the flow of ideas and players around the notion of cultural exception and cultural diversity; the development of new cultural, informational or communication products accessible via the Internet or via mobile telephones or similar tools; movements opposed to existing commercial offers marked by the development of small structures of production targeted at micro-markets but also by the development of piracy; shift in the balance between content providers, software manufacturers, hardware manufacturers and network operators; the development of new types of content. How should these developments be interpreted ? Do they in fact constitute a major transformation? An examination of the current research into the Cultural and media Industries, whether from the point of view of economics, law, sociology, political science, history, philosophy or communication and information sciences, shows a large number of differing approaches to the same issues. A process needs to be launched which will end the current dispersal of existing studies and will propose a new framework. This international conference arises from a concerted programme (ACI) « Transformations of culture, information and communication industries :cartography, assessment, observation » (Philippe Bouquillion and Yolande Combès, coordinators) involving the MSH Paris Nord, the MSH des Alpes, the MSH d’Aquitaine, the Institut Erasme MSH Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme Paris, the MSH de Toulouse and a network of european, asian, north and south american researchers. The international conference is co-organised by the partners of this program and supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the ministère délégué à l’Enseignement supérieur et la Recherche, the regional Council of the Ile-de-France, the general Council of Seine Saint-Denis, Plaine Commune, the City of Saint-Denis and by the universities Paris 8 and Paris 13.

	The conference took place on 25, 26 and 27 September 2006 at the University Paris 13 and Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Paris Nord, 3 and 4 rue de la Croix Faron – 93210 Saint-Denis La Plaine