The purpose of this book is to show that the current context of documentation is just another step in human construction that has been ongoing for not centuries but millennia and which, since the end of the 19th century, has been accelerating. Coined by Paul Otlet in 1934 in his Traite de Documentation, "hyperdocumentation" refers to the concept of documentation that is constantly being expanded and extended in its functionalities and prerogatives.
While, according to Otlet, everything could potentially be documented in this way, increasingly we find that it is our lives that are being hyperdocumented. Hyperdocumentation manifests as an increase not only in the quantity of information that is processed but also in its scope, as information is progressively integrated across areas that were previously poorly documented or even undocumented.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Foreword xi
Michael BUCKLAND
Introduction xv
Chapter 1 Hyperdocumentation According to Paul Otlet 1
1.1 The different levels of hyper in hyperdocumentation 3
1.1.1 Hyperdocumentation as an extension 4
1.1.2 Hyperdocumentation as accumulation 10
1.1.3 Hyperdocumentation as an increase in documentary forms 12
1.2 Hyperdocumentation as reduction 13
1.3 Hyperdocumentation as hypertext 16
1.4 Hyperdocumentation as a new world order 18
1.4.1 A hyperdocumentation between utopia and dystopia 21
1.4.2 Between classification and synthesis 23
1.5 The ultimate perspective of the documentation 25
Chapter 2 Hyperdocumentation as a Triumph of Documentality 29
2.1 A documentary theory of humanity 30
2.1.1 A philosophical theory of humanity 30
2.1.2 Homo documentator 31
2.2 Documentality or social ontology 32
2.3 Documentality and memory 35
2.4 Documentation and authority 37
2.5 A hyperdocumentary era 39
2.6 A document theory 41
Chapter 3 Hyperhuman or Hypermachine? 45
3.1 Desiring machines? 47
3.2 Typology of hyperdocumentary machines 50
3.3 Towards hyperdocumentality? 57
Chapter 4 Towards Hyperdocumentary Regimes 59
4.1 The documentary regime of Otlet’s time 60
4.2 Changes in documentary regimes 67
4.2.1 Between memory and knowledge carriers 68
4.2.2 Hypermediation 69
4.2.3 Probability regimes 71
4.2.4 Regimes of confession and conversion 72
4.2.5 Regimes of monumentality 74
4.3 Post-Otlet documentation regimes 78
Chapter 5 Between Knowledge Indexing and Existence Indexing 85
5.1 An index question 87
5.2 The two faces of indexing 90
5.3 The need for an indexing ethic 92
5.4 A long history of indexing 95
5.4.1 Tension among those involved in documentation 97
5.5 Between documentarity and monumentality 102
5.6 Which indexation regime? 104
5.7 Should we stop indexing? 105
Chapter 6 Personal Documentation: Between “The Self” and “Myself” 111
6.1 Renewal of personal documentary practices 115
6.2 Self-documentation 118
6.3 Self-demonstration or self-documentation 122
6.4 Documentary freedom under constraints 128
6.5 Hypodocumentation or the concept of sousveillance 132
Chapter 7 The Hyperdocumentalists of Our Lives 135
7.1 The hyperdocumentalists of self 138
7.2 From the found friend to the “caring” lover 141
7.3 Computing centers or archive centers 143
7.4 Post-mortem hyperdocumentation 147
7.5 Post-human hyperdocumentation? 149
Chapter 8 Documentation of All the Senses 155
8.1 Hyperdocumentation as documentation of all the senses 155
8.2 Beyond the senses? 158
8.3 Paranormal hyperdocumentation 162
8.3.1 The hyperdocumentation of the sixth sense 162
8.3.2 Charles Fort 167
8.4 Political meaning? 169
8.5 Indexation of desires 173
Chapter 9 Free (or Open?) Hyperdocumentation 177
9.1 Which hyperdocumentary forms are “open”? 178
9.2 Documentation as resistance 181
9.3 Hyperleaks? 184
9.4 Hyperdocumentary convergence: the OSINT 186
9.5 Utopia or dystopia? 188
Chapter 10 Conclusion: Is it Necessary to Go to San Junipero? 191
10.1 A continuous confrontation between ancient and modern? 192
10.2 Between documents and monuments: Promethean vertigo 194
10.3 Towards an ethical hyperdocumentation, the challenge of moderation 196
10.4 Preserving the links, nexialism against hyperseparatism 197
Postface - Beyond Otlet: Fragmented Encyclopedism 201
Jean-Max NOYER
References 235
Index 247
