Special Section Introduction: Documentation and Conservation of the Media-Arts Heritage (DOCAM)

Over the next 3 years, this special section of Leonardo will document the work of a vast research alliance headed by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology (Montreal, Canada) on the documentation and conservation of the media-arts heritage. This research project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by the Daniel Langlois Foundation.

With the article that follows by Richard Rinehart, we launch this special section of Leonardo. This is Leonardo's contribution to a vast research alliance headed by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology (Montreal, Canada) on the documentation and conservation of the media-arts heritage. This 5-year research project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by the Daniel Langlois Foundation.

Call for Papers

Over the coming years, the DOCAM alliance wishes to publish in this section articles and reports arising from research that the foundation and its partners will undertake. We also invite researchers, scholars, artists and others concerned with this constellation of issues to propose articles to Leonardo. For more information on DOCAM's research agenda, please consult the alliance's web site: <www.docam.ca>.

Now in its second year of activities, DOCAM has created many research committees delving into concerns and questions to be dealt with through various methodologies: documentation case studies, conservation and restoration case studies, and cataloging and terminology test cases, as well as the creation of a technological history timeline. During the winter of 2006, a seminar entitled The Preservation of New Media was held by McGill University's Department of Art History and Communication Studies; in the winter of 2007, this seminar will be offered again, this time at the Université du Québec à Montréal (in French) under the auspices of the Faculty of Fine Arts. Essays by students of the 2006 winter seminar are available on the DOCAM web site [1].

Furthermore, DOCAM's second international annual summit was held 26-27 October 2006 in Montreal. The summit's principal aim was to gather all of DOCAM's partners, both Canadian and foreign, and to focus on their respective advancements and research endeavors. For the 2005 and 2006 conference programs, please refer to the DOCAM web site.

Individuals interested in submitting an article for this section should do so by contacting Jean Gagnon and Alain Depocas at the Daniel Langlois Foundation or by writing to DOCAM's coordinator, Sylvie Lacerte, at <slacerte@docam.ca>.