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Works of Pierre Berger

1. Indexes and tables

Articles about information systems theory, technologies and their users (mainly corporations, between 1990 and 2000) .Beware : these files are ancient, and have been ported from environments like Framework to Word and generally, finally, to HTML. Then the code is frequently polluted. Beyond that, they are the rough files I was sending to the final editing team, then
- they may include typographical marks,
- they may have been edited after my remittal,
- they may have been published in issues different from the original intended ones.

- index by business sectors (and publishing dates)
- general articles on information systems.
- All my written works until 1991 (in French, much more complete that the below selection).

ISF. Index of some articles published in Ingénieurs et scientifiques de France, from 1885 to 1904.

Cnof. Partial indexing of the Bulletin du comité national de l'organisation française, from 1927 to 1932. We have made this work at the Cnof offices, then in Puteaux (Haut-de-Seine), a little before its disparition. This bullein, stenciled, is probably nowhere available now.

Conferencia. Index of this review, from 1930 to its end after WW2. Little about digital creation, but it may be useful to get the cultural context of this period. And this review contains the lecture of Paul Valéry : Notre destin et les lettres (2/1937).

Informatique et Gestion Tables of this monthly magazine, from november 1970 to spring 1980.

2. Dictionaries

- Diccan , the present dictionary of digital creation.
- The Roxame dictionary, specifically written to be used directly by the Roxame software, but still being lisible by humans, like a sort of code. The HTML version (here used) is automatically generated
- The dictionary of Stic (Sciences et technologies de l'information), updated until 2005, covering the computer and information sciences technologies terms and persons from the origins to 2005.
- L'Atlas de l'Hypermonde (1997-1999)
- Télédico, in 1984 and 1985, on minitel. No longer available.

General bibliograhy.
Some ancient books we still have

3. Papers and communications (published or not)

- A state of the Digital Arts on the beginning of 2014.

- Digital art, from the Bit to the Cloud

- Aesthetics and Algorithms, Around the Uncanny Peak

- Immersion, From Goggles to Transmedia

- A la découverte de l'art génératif, enfant du numérique. 10 pages in We Demain , n°4, spring-summer 2013. Not available on line.

- La contribution de l'art à la prospective. Presentation for Prospective 2100 Group. The full video recording.

Complexity and beauty, the uncanny peak. January 2013. A better version has become a communication at Laval Virtual 2013, and will in the future be accesslble online.

Immersion, from goggles to transmedia. January 2013. A communication at Laval Virtual 2013, not yet accessible online.

Transmedia . Fall 2012. (a synthesis attempt).

L'art génératif. Jouer à Dieu... un droit ? un devoir ? by Pierre Berger and Alain Lioret. L'Harmattan 2012.

Le mystérieux chapeau pointu de l'art génératif .This text has been modified, see above "Complexity and beauty, the uncanny peak".

What matters in digital art ? The (digital) soul !. Communication at Laval Virtual 2011 Conference

Les Algoristes (2010). Written on a suggestion by Alain Lioret.

DAI : Digitally augmented identity.(communication à Laval Virtual, 2010). Art, identity, digitalization.

Art, algorithmes, autonomie. Programmer l’imprévisible. Communications at Afig workshop, Arles 2009. With considerations about algorithmic aesthetics.

Jeux collectifs (communication at ICSSEA conference, 2009 : Networked Massively multi-players games as a development environment.

2028 ? A prospective text, by Joël and Pierre Berger, written for 'Ordre des Experts comptables. 2008.

Roxame user's manuel (informative, without operational guaranty) 2008.

Siggraph 2008 : Bravo , (Bravo la France. Chapeau l'Amérique. Allez, l'Europe ! ), Emotion (about robots), Sexe (Salvation will come from the women).

Pour un véritable aménagement linguistique. (2006-2007). Notes about a politics of languages.

Art Gallery, Siggraph 2006. Notes and mixed feelings about Art show in Siggraph 2006 (Boston).

Le numérique en peinture : un horizon nouveau pour un art traditionnel. 2005. Mostly a presentation of Roxame in a symposium Traitement Signal Image et arts (Processing, signal, image and arts).

Roxame (2000-2005). No longer hoping to emerge as a philosopher, I center myself on a a computer and "painting" version of Max. I call it Xam, considering it as a younger daugther of Max (My real daugher wont like that). But surfing on Internet shows that this name is quite frequently used. Then I createa new word, "Roxame", a robot with a soul (âme, in French, echoing to the digital soul, an expression crossing my 1999 book). Roxame may be considered as a Turing test for an Art version of artificial intelligence. From the theoretical standpoint, I think that it is a success. But, to succeed on Art marked, I should have focussed on markeing. I did'nt mind, and concentrated myself on my digital universe. In this environment, I write the rather substantial Peinture et machine, which will be developped in diccan and in L'art génératif (see above).

Peinture et machine (2004) is the theoretical environment of my project Roxame. Since,
- after so many years, my ideas failed to have any serious impact, even in the scientific community,
- I felt unable to develop in earnest my theoretical intuitions (digital relativity in particular), for lack of mathematical competence,
I decided to explore another way, giving a sister to Max.

The result is limited. But a least I took a lot of pleasure in the programming and discovery of unexpected works, beautiful enough to be accepted in several Art salons.

Pour un humanisme constructiviste. 2002. follows again the tracks of Le post-humanisme. And turned dry for the same reasons.

An Ontology of the Digital ( 2001-2010. Formerly called A digital Universe). A vast construction site, where trenches are still widely open, and some hepas of waste.

Questions au Père Noël (2001-2005). Some looks on present and perspectives of computers and information systems, presented as interviews of Santa Claus (each end of year).

Emergence du logiciel. (Communication at Club de l'hypermonde, mars 2000, révision en 2010). It is a work of History, showing that software was not borne one day from nothing, but was the result of a long technical evolution, with deep roots in punched cards systems.

Musée numérique et ville numérique : racines, parcours, interaction. in La ville numérique, edited by Victor Sandoval.. Les Cahiers du Numérique, Hermès Science Europe 2000. Rather weak, excessively conceptual.

1990-2010. Un siècle de systèmes d'information. (Communication at Institut Bull, 10/11/1999).

L'informatique libère l'humain. La relativité digitale (1999). Published by L'Harmattan. With a preface by Thierry Gaudin. But with poor success (200 issues sold in 8 years), and no review by anybody, in spite of a communication effort with my fellow journalists. Even Le Monde Informatique, my own journal, dit not put a line about it.

Le post-humanisme (1999) is a line of thought which could, did I think, extend logically the reflexions of the Club de l'Hypermonde. But I had to stop, because these lines of theories appeared as too anti-humanist, and in fact rather nazist. Though things have evolved since that time, we are still faced with this kind of issues, and manking is wrong to refuse an objective look to them.

LHD, une loi de croissance digitale. (probably 1999). A communication to the Groupe Histoire of Club de l'Hypermonde. I finalize my reflections about Moore's law and its generalisation. Later, in a meeting of a Mounier-Kuhn workshop, probably in 2009, I'll learn that this law is, at least partly, a deliberate choice by the SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association).

Convergence (circa 1998) Communication to CNFPT (Centra national de formation des personnels territoriaux, if I remind well), I prepare this synthetic paper, oriented to forecastig. In fact, my presentation does not fit well in the organizers intention. They would habe liked, in the mool of this time, that I predict the end of computer discipline by nework discipline. Which could have some consequences for a lot of people, mostly the CIOs. Instead, I show the central role of computers, even in a networked world. But I could do my presentation, and some people will say me "At least, you have pushed us to think"

La démocratie américaine (1998) is a rather lateral topic, where I collected my thoughs, in view of a workhop organized by the reflexion group Gesys.

Je crois à l'hypermonde (1997). A reflexion about markets and evolutions. Will lead to the foundation of Club de l'Hypermonde.

Domotique (vers 1997). Smart home. This topic comes back regularly in the news, with terms like "smart buildings", or "the home of tomorrow", sometimes related to telecommuting. Actually, homes does not change much. Probably because humans do not ask for it.

J'ai bâti mon Personet (1996). In 1996, seeing the advantages of the web browsers, and their aptitude to be used on personel machines, I begin the integration of all my personal and professional date into a "personet".

The Memorial (1996) was a project that I hoped to realize, with the Club de l'Hypermonde, and possibly with the help of my friends Micheline and Roland Deboux. But it had too few hopes of success, at least at that time, and even Mrs Hildesheimer, of the French Archives Nationales, did not found a way to push it towards realization.

Seven stones from Kyoto (circa.1995). During a press travel in Japan, I call a visit to this famed temple and its garden. Hence the inspiration of this short text, which is a rather good resume of my thoughts, even today in 2012. The short original text is followed by later comment

Annees_30 ( 1995).Though not properly a writing, I gathered at that time a lot of texts published between the two World wars. I wondered if the 90's could be compared to the 30's... with the same terrific prospects. My survey The 1930's : foreshadowing or antithesis of the 90's concluded that the periods were really different, and that if feart there was to feel, it was not for the same reasons. This work emphasised also for me the richness of intellectual, scientific and technical development of this period. I had, at that time, some fascinating books, first of all (from my standpoint in these years), the book of René Carmille.

And led to a certainty : WW2 was not as beneficial for science as has been so generally said. Sure, it fostered research around the nuclear weapons, and about calculus. But it blocked also a lot of work that was in progress, and would have its social and economic benefits some 10 if not 20 years earlier !

Le sexe... ant its relations with technolgy. Diverses nots, around 1994, mainly for the Club de l'hypermonde.

Le texte au coeur de la nébuleuse informatique. Le Monde informatique, 1994. A synthetic short paper, in a forecasting perspective, not too much contradicted by the ulterior facts, seen in 2012.

Interview by Patrick Curran (Paris 8), about Virtual Reality and Hypermonde. At Montpellier.

Maelstrom. 1992 Reflexion, wih Jean-Marie Letourneux, about growing inequalities;

Groupware. 1991. Some views for the working group Afcet Bureautique. Unpublished. See a state of the art in 1989 below.

Hans Moravec. An interview (1990). Short.

Downsizing (notes, vers 1990). Downsizing, in that time, was pointing onto replacement of "mainframes" (large, proprietary systems) by more distributed machines, Unix based. I had to fight against the main manufacturers (IBM mainly) to show the validity of the concept. Which finally won, although some aspects remain disputable.

THL (notes in some 1989 issues a Valeurs 2010, a newsletter I was distributing in my family). The THL (Transparadigmatic Hyper Laboraory) was a "cave". More exactly the dream of a cave. It was in my house basement, with as only projector a microfilm reader.

Image et couleur partout (1989). Short paper.

Groupware. 'Le groupware émerge des laboratoire". State of the art in january 1989. Le Monde Informaique du 16 janvier. .

Maintenant l'hypermonde (1990) is an effort to globalize the consequences of virtual reality. In fact, this expression was central in the first version of the book. But I did not like the intrinsic contradiction between real and virtual, and looked for something more positive and constructive. I hit on "hyperworld", both as positive and as a generalisation of expressions à la mode there : hypergraph, hypertext... In spite of preface by Thierry Gaudin, the book was rejected by several publishers. I admit that it has some structural defects, but they could me adjusted. Unfortunately, publishers in general are not litterary agents ...

I liked the word, and that pushed me to launch a reflexion group, the Club de l'Hypermonde, which creed was eplicited by its Manifesto in 1991. was really active during ten years, and still exists nominally in 2007. In this frame, we prepared a Manifesto and some writings such as A political system for Hyperworld (1993).

L'aube de la domotique (Le Monde Informatique, april 1986). We write "La domotique sera un art autant et plus qu'une technique" (The smart home will be an art more than a technology). 27 years later, this integration did not happpened has some were foretelling. The different "poles" (TV, phone, energy managemnet) remain mainly separated one from each other. And there are no central control point. And the wiring problems, major at that thime, have been solved by ADSL and wireless networking.

Télédico. The presentation document of the portal we launched in 1984 about Informatics, using the French Minitel network. It included a dictionary, a sort of blog, and commercials. That was at least 15 years too early and we had to dissolve Télémapresse, the corporation we had built with a Computer service corporation and a printer.

Jouer en vraie grandeur. Et allons-y pour la kermesse.Description and Basic source code fro tree grames, controlled throug a Vic Rel cart by a Commodore 64. In 2012, the buzzword is "physical computin",typically the kind of applications you can develop with a Arduino cart or something alike.

Orgware, or variable geometry organization (1980) was accepted as an internation converende in Vienne. It was also my first subtantial text in English. The idea was to propose a solid frame for bureautic concepts and organizational views. Complementary notes.

Un concept limite, l'information parfaite (1979) was a bolder attempt to theoretical thinking. It compared information to perfect gasses, and tried to formulate the basic associate law. Nobody found the concept interesting, and my proposal of lecture was refused by an Afcet congress. I must say that, at that time, I had no idea of the kind of style and presentation required for these kind or performances.

Max, le robot égoïste (1978-79). A first technical attempt to realize the L concept.

Prospective 1978. For its 100th isssue, the Informatique et Gestion computer magazine does a "rétroprospective". Reading me again in 2012, I'm not so proud, but for some funny elements.

Bureautique (1977-1978) summarizes the concepts of the French standpoint about "office automation". I was an active participant in this reflexion, being considered as one of the three creators of the word, of which the first is certainly Louis Naugès. I played a role on the word diffusion, publishing a substantial "dossier" in Informatique et Gestion.

Bientôt 7 millions de chômeurs (1977) is an editorial for Informatique et Gestion about employment and the concerns brought out forth by automation. It was rather prophetical, since the unemployment figures rose sharply in the following years. But, as employment and not leasure were aimed by all politicians and public opinion, unemployment never rose much above 3 millions in France.

Les réseaux à l'heure des passions (1977).State of the art on current debates on centralization/decentralization. .

Recherche de la représentation optimale (1975). How to build languages and interfaces with machines.

Le composant, rencontre de deux rationalités (notes, circa 1974). Reflections about a concept borne for physiical products, then extended to software and services (web services).

La systémique (1973) goes along the same line. At that time, notably under the influence of Jean-Louis Le Moigne, and framed by Afcet (Association française de cybernétique économique et technique), a professional and scientific society, a lot of reflexion emerges, wih notable conferences and books. I tried here to elaborate my own synthesis. But nobody, and in particular Le Moigne, take it for serious. Personally, I still think that it was rather original and serious. More than a lot of the texts published at that time, in particular because they stress the importance of complexity, and of a methodical if not mathematical dealing with these questions. But, due to people like Edgar Morin and Le Moigne himself (though a scientist), the "systémique" and the reflexions about complexity went away from mathematical expressions and lost themselves in psychological and sociological discourse.

Quelques textes, éditoriaux dans Informatique et Gestion. Les nouveaux anciens combattants. Jargon n'est pas langage. Que vous souhaiter ?

Recherche en informatique de Gestion (1973) is a report on a workshop, which lasted a lot of time, pushed to the creation of Inforsid (to day, still a scientific society on the Information systems). This wokshop was followed by another one in Grenoble, which brought some funding for collaborative research in three groups : techniques, methods and social aspects. Unfortunately, the third meeting, in Caen, ( Le miracle n'a pas eu lieu )emphasised the fact that only the technical aspects had been seriously worked on. And, logically, the public effort concentrated on the technical aspect of methods, leading later to the French methods school, converging in Merise.

Les fonctions de la presse spécialisée . (Informaique et Gesion, nov. 73), a communication at Convenion Informatique. A summary of the computer press role, situated in the profession. With statitics about new products.

Convergence (Unpublished, 1972, circa).Entre le quantum transactionel et le système total, la convergence informatique (1972) collects diverse reflexions. At that time, I am editor-in-chief of Informatique et Gestion, a monthly magazine playing both and industrial and professional role, including pages of actuality, and relexions by researchers. Not, for sure, in a properly academic form, but written by authentic researchers of universities or research institutes like Inria. That encourage me to push my own ideas. An in some way, I used them to manage the editorial flow of the magazine, but could not publish them directly.

In this text, several concepts, major for my personel development, are yet sketched, in particular :
- the importance of complexity
- my formula for Liberty.

At that time, also, I professed that computer is not done for the service of man, but on the contrary : as Adam in the garden of Eden, man is the gardener which must till the garden, and develop it for higher aims.

Démocratie en temps réel (Le monde, 3 juillet 1971). Seven years before the French law "Informatique et Libertés".

Une_ame qui bouge (Unpublished novel, 1969 ). Basic idea : in the future, "normal" people do not travel. To move is to be in Police, or in protest. This is my first (and unique) attempt to science-fiction. Nobody liked it, then I did not try twice. Perhaps should I have been more perseverant. I join to the text some drawings, which do not exactly match with the text, but show my thougt line at that time. The main idea is that information systems have lead to a workd where normal people do not travel, and live, with sports and corporal exercise, in rather secluded worlds. Notably for ecology reasons. It inspired my later texts and realisations of Valeurs 2010 and the THL (Transparadigmatic Hyper Laboratory).

Nos libertés face à l'informatique, dictature ou démocratie nouvelle . (0.1. Informatique, 1967). A paper strongly in advance on this time state of minds. Some naive view, or unconfirmed hopes. But a not so bad anticipation of the French law of 1978).

Vues prospectives (L'Argus des Assurances, 1966). L'électronique, un bon serviteur qui doit trouver son maître (L'Argus des Assurance, 1965). These papers were important for my futures orientations. They were published by the main weekly journal of the French Insurance profession, l'Argus des Assurances. The second article shows my early trend to futurology, which was not considered as very serious by my relations. My brother Marcel, a high level mathematician, said "Youd should rather study things to earn the bread for your family, instead of playing wih these computers". (He admitted, several years later, that he has been wrong on these points. And he sometimes helped my search, for example by lending me the Pléiades lecture bool "Logique et connaissance scientifique", and later "Stabilité structurelle et morphogenèse", of René Thom.

My father said to me "Ce n'est pas mal. C'est mieux que tout ce que tu as fait jusqu'à maintenant. Tu ferais un bon journaliste". That was not at all my idea of a vocation at that time. But my father insisted, and that lead finally to my entry into the Press world, where I spent my profession career, from 1967 to 1999, when I retired.

Réassurance prospective (1964). The first of my published article. And yet oriented towards the future. A rather short editorial paper in a professional journal (I was at that time working in the Reinsurance department of an Insurance Company). I write that to push my company towards computers, and not to keep on with its punched card machines. My boss says "On the future, you can write anything. Half of it will come true".
Nobody has ever contradicted the ideas in this paper. Reading it in 1984, I must admit that the real situation is rather different of what I had dreamed. But not for tehnological reasons : eventually, reinsurance went to more global contracts and financial cooperation than finely tuned operations.

Le réseau général (notes, around1963). Collection of personal notes. Neatly forecasting oriented.

Vrai, mal, dialectique. Philosophy Around 1961, mainly during the military service.

Le problème du mal (1958) is a dissertation written, at the Saint-Sulpice seminary, within the Theodicea ("natural theology") course of Mr. Grison. It is short, but rather bold, since it gives expression of my early scepticism, just slightly veiled by some precautionary comments. The for causes scheme, taken from the Scholastics after Aristotes, has been useful in my future reflexions. In particlar, for my global project A Digital Universe, it may help to frame clearly the various topics.

It is my first original and serious philosophical world. My precedent dissertations, for example "Le beau dans la nature et dans l'art", showed mainly le low level of my philosophical culture at that time, which did not prevented me from pretentions to originality. As one says in French "Aux innocents les mains pleines".

Les polars (1953 or 54) is my first non family or school writing. A humoristic pamphlet about excessive school workers.

Cher Bon papa... My first typed text. "Without help", notes my Grandma.

 

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