Observatory of cultural industry transformations

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	The Omic observatory

	The observatory was created at the launch of the research program "Transformations of culture, information and communication industries: cartography, assessment, observation" which brings together international teams of researchers. The research is carried out within the context of a concerted programme set up by several Maisons des Sciences de l’Homme.

	1. The observatory of cultural industry transformations - Omic The observatory aims to bring together, on an international scale, scientific teams from different disciplines working in the domain of the Cultural and Media Industries (CMI) and to publicize their research. Its objectives are: - To organise long term collaboration between teams of researchers linked to the programme in order to encourage the enrichment and comparison of their approaches and to develop a common grid analysis. - To provide analyses of the socio-economic principles at work in the CMI and to collect data from empirical studies based on explicit theoretical models. - to pool the different partners’ means and resources and to offer a higher visibility to each researcher as well as to the whole project. Each partner will be able to circulate contributions and analyses and participate in the updating of results produced during the research. Four research themes were identified at the start, complemented by a cross-disciplinary theme : - Financial and industrial structures and strategies; - Public policies, regulatory activity and regulation; - Creative process, production, distribution and valorisation of intellectual and artistic products; - Uses and practices; - Transversal perspectives. Researchers working in the Observatory formed four groups to collaborate on these first four themes. Their analysis is based on the hypothesis that the culture, information and communication industries have undergone deep transformations since the eighties, notably with regard to public policy, regulatory aspects of markets, financial and industrial structures, means of production and distribution as well as uses and practices, combined with changes in the nature of supply. The question of internationalisation is common to the different themes and will be the object of a special analysis and synthesis and of a special work group. Other themes may be identified and integrated as the research progresses. Researchers will work in a multidisciplinary approach with notably, information and communication sciences, sociology, economics, law, philosophy, aesthetics, anthropology... Theme "Financial and industrial strategies and structures" The work of this group concerns transformations in capitalism within the culture, information and the communication industries. The research will tackle questions of industrial concentration, the ‘financialisation’ and the internationalisation of sectors of the culture, information and communication industries in particular. Group coordinators : Philippe Bouquillion and Eric George Theme "Public policies, regulatory activities and regulations" This work focuses on public policy and regulation with regard to cultural industries, at international (conventions), transnational (Europe), national and local level, from a multidisciplinary perspective (political science, sociology, law, economics, communication). It concerns : - The State and public service (notion of Universal Service, public regulation, cultural policies, industrial policies, etc.); - The organisation of competition (price, concentrations, foreign ownership, Competition Law); - The organisation of exchanges (internationalisation of production, dominant vs. minority, cultures deregulation of exchanges, cultural diversity, information society); - Intellectual property (royalties, copyright, copyleft) and right to publish (freedom of the press, privacy issues, image rights). Group coordinators : Bernard Miège and Gisèle Sapiro Theme "Creative Process, production, distribution and valorisation of intellectual and artistic products" The questions discussed include : - The evolution of aesthetic forms and forms of representation; - The specific interaction between medium and content as ‘multi-mediatisation’, the addition of relational services to content; - Processes of rationalisation and standardisation, the limits of ‘mass customisation’; - The new rules in valorisation and commercialisation; - The transformation of professions and the emergence of new professions. Group coordinators : Yolande Combès and Hervé Serry Theme "Uses and Practices" These research themes concern the following questions principally: - Customisation; - The plurality of supply and what this entails with regard to transformations in uses; - Industrial research into creativeness and innovation; - The emergence of improbable uses; - Changes in the notion of ‘artist; creator’; - Changes in the relationship between ICT and Society with the rise of digital technology. Group coordinators : Bernard Miège and Fanny Carmagnat The coordinators of the ACI programme – Transformations of culture, information and communication industries are Philippe Bouquillon and Yolande Combès. Contact numbers and addresses of researchers are available on the site under "Network and partners". 2. ACI program – Transformations of culture, information and communication industries In autumn 2004, a three-yearly research programme was launched - on transformations in Cultural and Media Industries including six Maisons des Sciences de l’Homme, the MSH Paris Nord, coordinator of the project, the MSH of the Alps, the MSH of Aquitaine, the MSH of Paris (Raspail), the MSH of Toulouse as well as foreign partners, in particular Brazilian, British, Canadian, Spanish, American, Italian, and Singaporean. The program receives financing as part of the concerted Program (ACI) of the MSH network. It was ranked first equal at the 2004 call for tender. Since then, colleagues from laboratories from other countries (Germany, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay) have joined us. The objective of this program is to bring together researchers from all over the world who work on transformations in the cultural and media industries. Already, it has become one of the most important networks of international, interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research on this theme. The first year was devoted to the comparison of very different approaches that have for long remained completely unconnected. Researchers are organised into in four groups working on the themes mentioned above : - Financial and industrial structures and strategies; - Public policies, regulatory activity and regulation; - Creation, production, distribution and valorisation of intellectual and artistic production; - Uses and practices. The work of these groups is published in a variety of publications and on the Omic Observatory site. The organisation, in September 2006, of an international symposium co-financed by the regional Council of the Ile-de-France will be the opportunity to deepen research from a multidisciplinary and international perspective. It will be the most important event organized in France into transformations in the cultural and media industries.