New media

Author: [France] Bal / [France] Aimery / Zhang Xinxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-10
Features: The world-famous "Je sais quoi?" series is a popular encyclopedic knowledge series compiled and published by the Presses Universitaires de France since 1941. Over more than half a century, with the continuous development of scientific knowledge, the series has expanded its scope of topics and updated its content, covering all fields of social sciences and natural sciences, as well as various aspects of human life. Since the authors of the series are all renowned experts and scholars in their respective fields, each book is written in an accessible yet profound manner, blending knowledge and entertainment. To date, the series has published over 3,000 titles and has had a significant impact worldwide, translated into more than 40 languages. "Je sais quoi?" originally came from a quote by the 16th-century French philosopher Montaigne. It not only illustrates the boundless nature of knowledge but also reflects the thirst for knowledge of that generation during the Renaissance. In 1941, France was in a critical period. The Presses Universitaires de France chose this phrase as the name of the series, publishing it not only to meet the needs of university teaching and student reading under the special circumstances of war but also, undoubtedly, to popularize knowledge, inspire people's enthusiasm for reading, and revitalize the French nation. Today, our country is in a new era of advancing toward modernization, and the entire nation is striving to build it into a prosperous and strong socialist country. We believe that selectively translating and publishing this series will also play its due role for us. The emergence of new technologies for playback, transmission, and communication all undergoes many trials, with both sensational successes and lesser-known failures. However, the new technologies before us pose a question: What common points do all the tools and networks referred to as "new media" share? Do people have a reasonable justification to call these diverse technologies and crafts by the same name, as custom demands, and classify them into the same category? Can we lump them all together, as if they suddenly unite against the veteran media—newspapers, radio stations, and television stations—that have long suffered the same blows?