The Daniel Langlois Foundation is proud to be associated with the development of an online version of Radical Software, and of research tools to access its contents. This project is in keeping with the mandate of the Foundation which, through its Centre for Research and Documentation (CR+D), allows the public and researchers to access information relating to understanding and analyzing the historical relationships between art, science and technology.

From the very beginning, the CR+D regarded Radical Software - a rare periodical if ever there was one - as one of the key witnesses to the seminal events of the early 1970s: the beginning of the artist's appropriation of video; experiments with cable television (anticipating in several respects the use of the Internet); and the discovery of the extraordinary possibilities offered by computer technology for artistic creation. Never in the history of media arts had so many new possibilities co-existed.

We were not alone in recognizing the historical importance of Radical Software. In fact, over the past ten years the number of references to texts published in this periodical has grown steadily. Although we were able to acquire a collection of copies of Radical Software, in order to make them available to researchers using the resources of the CR+D, we were aware that, apart from a few scattered collections, the periodical was not easily accessible. This reality, coupled with the relatively fragile condition of the Radical Software issues (especially the first few, printed on highly acidic paper), made the periodical a prime candidate for digitization, for on-line access.

Our participation in this on-line version of Radical Software has taken two forms: first, financial assistance for the digitization of all 11 issues, together with the design of the Web site; second, the indexing of the entire contents of Radical Software in the CR+D database, and the development of the search engine to access both the database index and the texts of the articles. In this way, we have been able to share our technological and methodological expertise.

Since its creation in 2000, the CR+D has established a documentation collection related to electronic, digital and media arts. This collection documents both the current era, in particular those projects supported by the Daniel Langlois Foundation, as well as the 20th century, especially from the early 1960s on.

The collection, whose development is ongoing, includes the Steina and Woody Vasulka fonds, the Collection of Documents Published by Experiments in Arts and Technology, the Images du futur Collection, the Collection of Films on Frank J. Malina, and the ISEA Collection.

Anyone wishing to learn more about the Centre's documentation collection, its resources and research tools, or projects regarding on-line access to resource material on the history, criticism and analysis of the electronic arts, are invited to consult the Daniel Langlois Foundation Web site: http://www.fondation-langlois.org

Alain Depocas,
Director of the Center for Research and Documentation
The Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology