It is a technical infrastructure for Figura, the "Centre de recherche sur le texte et l'imaginaire" (Center for Research on Texts and the Imaginary), which promotes collaboration between researchers from several universities and fields of expertise.
Contents
- Background and philosophy
- Hypermedia Art and Literature HAL Directory
- Other activities and collaborations
- References
Since 2015, the NT2 collaborates with the Canada Research Chair in Digital Art and Literature.
Background and philosophy
The NT2 Laboratory is both a physical space (a research laboratory at UQAM) and a virtual space (the NT2 website, a hub for hypermedia literature and art).
NT2's work is based on the hypothesis that current hypermedia literature and art are informed and offer insight on the principles behind the literary and artistic practices of tomorrow. In this context, it is necessary to bear witness to early manifestations and offer adapted critical perspectives to this active artistic and literary presence.
Their mission is to promote the study, understanding, creation, and archiving of new forms of hypermedia literature and art. Its main focus is the assessment and promotion of new expressions of cyber-culture, as well as the development of novel strategies for ongoing research relating to new forms of art or text.
As such, NT2 pursues three overarching research objectives:
Their main interest are 'Net' art, new media and e-literature. The archiving of these relatively new textual forms, thus allowing for long-term study, is central in NT2’s range of activities.
Through ongoing projects and collaborations, the NT2 Laboratory focuses on promoting a community of interest and a network of researchers around the study of contemporary imagination, and the exploration of novel research methodology, adapted to contemporary contexts and technologies.
Hypermedia Art and Literature (HAL) Directory
The NT2 Laboratory’s main project has been the creation of the Hypermedia Art and Literature (HAL) Directory, which began in 2006. An index and showcase of hypermedia works, the database was created in response to the inadequacy of established tools of description for literature, cinema and art, as well as the lack of a substantial repertory for the institutionalisation and collection of these new works.
The Directory, created using the open source content management system Drupal, is populated by hypertext and hypermedia literary and art works, with a particular emphasis on French language works. For each piece, an entry presents bibliographic information and a description of the work or site, including a classification based on the nature of the piece, its type of interactivity, and its general format, with, in certain cases, research or technical notes and navigation screenshots.
The HAL Directory lists works that have mainly been presented on the Internet, as well as some available on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and, for older pieces, on diskette. In October 2015, the Directory included over 4,100 works ranging from some closer to literature and others incorporating cinematographic, artistic and theatrical expression as well as animation, cartooning, graffiti, and video games.
According to an article written by Bertrand Gervais in 2009, three main challenges that arose whilst developing the HAL Directory were: