New Media Letter from Jacques Gauchey (November 1995) Editors Note: M. Gauchey, always a writer, recently discovered the real web when an unknown admirer did a search for 'Multimedia France,' found Jacques' story, and began a correspondence. Now new clients are writing to our author, and he's very enthusiastic. Apologies for les accents aigues that didn't make it through Netscape. Left Bank intellectual extravaganza dominated the 4th International Mobius Prize, held at the beginning of October in Paris, France. As head of the US selection committee, I was one of the 20 jurors, a sacrificial lamb in the temple of French supremacy. Twenty eight scientific and cultural multimedia titles were nominated by 10 selection committees from Asia, the Americas and Europe. Excellent foreign titles, briskly shown on a big screen in a full theater in the 16th arrondissement, a Right Bank bastion, didn't stop the crowds and the jurors (most of them French) from expressing their Gallic tastes. Several in the audience couldn't hold it anymore when William H. Gates' Corbis Publishing (Bellevue, Washington) showed "A Passion for Art: Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, and Dr. Barnes." They booed the title for being the symbol of American and Gatesian imperialism. It symbolized to them his drive to buy the digital copyrights of the great art collections of the world. We were back in the old glory days of 1968! Did they conveniently forget that the great French best-seller "Le Louvre" (Montparnasse-Multimedia, Paris), just published in the US by BMG, was co-produced by the Reseau des Musees Nationaux - who owns the rights for the Louvre paintings? It was indeed a stimulating two days. To end it all, the jury congregated for a six-hour deliberation in the Cafe Procope, one of the oldest in Paris and appropriately located on the Left Bank. The results were not surprising. All of the Asian and US titles were left in the dust, including - to my quasi-lonely dismay - the innovative and mysterious "Himalayan Journey" (Simulations Interactive Multimedia, Sausalito, California) and the seducing and riveting "Cosmology of Asia" (Yano Electric, Kobe, Japan), both in development. And who won? Would a French title win for the fourth year in a row? No. Left Bank intellectuals are not obscured in their global vision; they jumped over the Atlantic to - you guessed right the second time - Quebec. "Le dictionnaire visuel interactif" (Les Editions Quebec/Amerique International, Montreal, Canada), was a good laureate although merely transposing a paper dictionary into a CD-ROM! Forget about new media paradigms. An encouraging move was the special prize for education given to a very low-budget ($20,000) and well crafted Brazilian title, "A Curious Child Learning his Letters" (Nucleo de Computacao Electronica, Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro). Undoubtedly, this year's message at the Mobius Prize was: "US Multimedia Go Home!" and "Vive le Quebec libre!" ©1995 Jacques Gauchey. Jacques Gauchey is the author of La Vallee du Risque - Silicon Valley, a book on long term technology trends (Plon, Paris, 1990) and an international consultant in the New Media industry. His firm, G.a Communications, assists companies and the international investment community in setting-up their global multimedia strategies both in America and in Europe. Jacques is frequently asked to speak about New Media trends. His clients include Apple Computer; Dynaware USA; Governement of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg; and Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon Technopole. Contact him by email: Jacques Gauchey. Return to NewStory {Home} {Nerdboys} {NewStory} {Women} {Maine} {Painting} {Sherry} {Nanowackology} {Guilt} {Advice} {Pluto Institute}