Thesaurus

No. 95 — Trésaurus
Today is November 28, 2024, and you are reading the newsletter from Médianes.

Hello, everyone,

It’s a time of major upheaval—the web is in disarray, and content is disappearing. In this context, it’s more urgent than ever to archive our journalistic work. Today, we’re offering some practical tips and accessible tools to help you get started, even on a tight budget.

Also in this special archives edition: bookstores up in arms against Bolloré, YouTube channels that are disappearing, personal diaries, and an invitation to the launch party for the third season of our podcast, *Chemins*.

Finally, it’s that time of year again—we’re sharing our 2024 gift list featuring independent press and publishing. It includes games, books, clothing, and magazines, of course.

Enjoy the read,

— MARINE SLAVITCH, JOURNALIST AT MÉDIANES

Why not?

IDEAS FOR YOUR MEDIA

Websites disappearing, links breaking, social media platforms faltering: the fragility of the web undermines not only our ability to document the past, but also to understand, contextualize, and verify facts. To strengthen transparency, protect access to information, and stand united against manipulation, it is becoming urgent to archive content. How should we go about this?

Ask the Experts

Archival institutions have the infrastructure necessary for the long-term preservation of documents. They adhere to strict storage standards, ensuring the preservation and accessibility of these documents. The National Library of France, in particular, offers digital archiving programs and preserves publications deposited under the legal deposit requirement. Departmental archives, for their part, can direct you to appropriate local solutions. In the realm of small-scale publishing, the Fanzinothèque de Poitiers collects all alternative publications.

Create Your Own System

Even a small editorial office can organize its archives. Digitizing paper archives, regularly backing up online content, and creating detailed metadata to facilitate searching are key steps. This list—a treasure trove of software, tools, libraries, and training resources—is a very useful resource to get started. When it comes to physical archives, it’s all about organization. Choose acid-free cardboard folders, protect fragile items in sleeves, and store them away from direct light. Archivists detail their methods here.

Engage Your Community

By recognizing the public not only as consumers of information but also as active participants in its preservation, we build a more inclusive collective memory. For example, you can use tools like Google Drive, the Internet Archive, or wikis to allow everyone to share and organize the archives. Furthermore, sharing these archives is just as important for ensuring their continued relevance beyond the contributors themselves. It may therefore be worthwhile to share your archives on your website or social media to highlight your work and its impact.

P.S.: Archives are also part of the value proposition for some media outlets. Take a look at Rembobine, Retronews, and La Disparition.

Over in Médianes

SEE YOU AT POINT ÉPHÉMÈRE!

To celebrate the fourth anniversary of Médianesand the launch of Season 3 of its podcast *Chemins*, we invite you to join us on Tuesday, December 10, at Point Éphémère for an evening exploring endings, transitions, and new beginnings in the media.

The evening will begin with a roundtable discussion moderated by Marine Slavitch, featuring three guests from this season who will share their stories and reflections on navigating these pivotal moments:

• Camélia Kheiredine, freelance journalist and former editor-in-chief of the program *Étiquette* on france.tv Slash.
• Alexandre Coing, CEO of Fooding.
• Sarah Ichou, editor-in-chief of the Bondy Blog.

The event will continue with drinks, followed by a DJ set by the feminist collective Écoute Meuf. Get your tickets now!

On Our Radar

OUR MARKET RESEARCH TO SUPPORT YOUR PROJECTS

Replace Bolloré with the independents

OP-ED / MEDIAPART

Independent bookstores are media outlets just like any others. They have their own editorial line, decide how to organize their displays based on current events, and cater to a specific audience. They can also refuse to “be a propaganda tool for reactionary forces.” ” In this op-ed, nearly 150 booksellers speak out against Vincent Bolloré’s power grab and his ideas in the publishing world and call for a boycott of books published by the Hachette Group.

I'm really leaving YouTube

MANON BOQUEN / TÉLÉRAMA

When a YouTube channel shuts down, people often assume there are two reasons: a lack of regular content or a takedown due to a violation of the platform’s rules. Other, less expected factors can also come into play. These include the creator’s burnout, or even unexpected strategies, such as a staged announcement of the channel’s closure to generate buzz. This article is full of examples, both in France and abroad, of YouTubers who have stopped posting.

Over at medianes.org

IT'S HOMEMADE

Our 2024 Gift Guide for the Holiday Season

MARINE SLAVITCH AND OWEN HUCHON / MEDIANES.ORG

The holiday season is approaching, and are you running out of ideas for how to spoil your loved ones? We’re sharing our special gift list featuring independent media outlets and publishers for a relaxing holiday season. On the list: magazines for your cousin, stylish clothing, and notebooks for those who love to jot things down.

In Brief

THAT WAY, YOU'LL KNOW

• BFMTV, Têtu, Le Bonbon: These media outlets are hiring. Check out their job openings.

• To mark its tenth anniversary, the independent cultural publication Manifesto XXI is releasing a print edition featuring a mix of archival material and new contributions.

• Have you switched to Bluesky? So have we! This tool lets you find all the accounts you followed on X. And to archive your tweets, here's what to do.

• In Italy, this foundation has been collecting diaries from all over the world for forty years to display them in a museum.

• This collective invites designers from the same city to fill two pages of a sketchbook by answering a question. It’s a wonderful archive of local creative trends.

• We can't resist sharing this blog with you—its goal is to invent portmanteau words and neologisms related to documentation and information.

See you on December 12!

Thank you for your messages, which have helped us make this newsletter even better. We’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome the teams at Vulgaire, Première pluie, and Disclose, as well as everyone who has recently signed up.

See you on December 12. Until then, take care of yourselves and your social media accounts.

— THIS NEWSLETTER WAS PREPARED BY MARINE SLAVITCH IN COLLABORATION WITH THE MÉDIANES TEAM.