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activity
per se
, the question of the definition and constitution of the processing
corpus arises every time. Note that in addition, in the context of digital archives of
knowledge, a
processing corpus
can be fed not only by data from one or more field
corpora, but also by data already published and “re-injected”, reused in the context
of a new technical, and above all authorial, treatment. In concrete terms, a corpus
documenting a scientific problem which is dealt with in a seminar and which is the
object of a montage with a view to publication online, alongside original data (e.g.
from a new field corpus), may perfectly well include parts from pre-published
contributions.
4) The stage of analyzing the data collected is the one which interests us most,
and to which this topic is dedicated. For the moment, let us highlight that the
analysis of a piece of textual information (or, in our case, audiovisual information)
cannot be reduced to a “simple” free indexation, nor to indexation controlled
according to this-or-that standard, this-or-that documentary language. The analysis
includes
all
intellectual activities - from documentary indexation to the most
personal interpretation, through the various forms of professional assessment of the
information - which “use” and “exploit” the object
text*
to satisfy a need (a desire,
or a simple curiosity) for knowledge. However, such a need or desire may stem from
very variable motivations, and arise in extremely different social and cultural
contexts. It is still true that analysis as
an activity to satisfy a need or desire for
knowledge
can only be successfully carried out if the right object is available to it, as
its
primarymaterial
which is the
text*
or rather, the corpus of texts. In the context of
the constitution and diffusion of a body of cultural/knowledge heritage, the
analysis
corpus*
, i.e. in our case the corpus of audiovisual data being analyzed, is not
necessarily coextensive with a field corpus - far from it, in fact. Indeed, everything
depends on the goal of the
analysis*
and, more generally, on the
analytical policy*
(e.g. in the context of exploitation of the contents of an
archive*
of knowledge). If
the analysis is conceived as an activity of description and classification of data
collected beforehand and documenting a particular field with a view, e.g. to their
publication online, the field corpus and analysis corpus become similar - although
they do not merge. If the analysis is conceived independently of the activity of
collection, the corpus of audiovisual data needed for the analysis to fulfill its goals,
obviously, no longer has anything to do with this-or-that field corpus. The analysis
corpus is constructed and enriched solely according to the objectives of the analysis
itself. In [STO 11b], two examples are provided of the constitution of an analysis
corpus fed by data from different field corpora: the first example is of the analysis of
traditional bread-making in France and Portugal [DEP 11d]; the second of the
comparative analysis of the view of the
Arabian Nights
and the creative uses certain
artists make of the tales [CHE 11b]. In both cases, the analysis corpus is composed
4
4 For instance, as part of the ARA Program, in 2007, we developed a themed portal devoted
solely to Latin America (http://www.amsud.fr/ES/). However, the corpus analyzed and
