Massimo Bray, general manager of Treccani “The map will not disappear, but must dialogue with technology”

Speaking of new technologies, there are many questions that we ask ourselves, what weight can artificial intelligence have the fate of the map: will a space for the pleasure and emotion of the consultation of the beautiful volumes collected in the traditional, large plank, fragrant of paper, culture and history?

The paper will remain. Already in 1995 with Rita Levi Montalcini it was said that the card was dead that it would disappear. In reality, it is two tools that must be dialogue. We must protect the value of the book. Parallel, the choices go in the direction of artificial intelligenceDue to the topics of copyright and the certainty of data: we must improve our immense archive in favor of the algorithm, also use it as a training method with which you can provide and obtain reliable information. All this is the subject of attention, of debates, of meetings. In a web perspective, it must be reminded that there are different magazines within the Treccani portal: geopolitics, the pocket, a long form, the chiasmus, for the higher institutions, and then the Italian language, which is used most. Everyone always has an audience that is looking for authority and certification of the data, central and important elements in all Treccani projects. An example from the point of view of food and wine: a gastronomic culture certifies through the IGPs and PDOs, improving the work of the consortia.

And the boys? Don’t risk, the use of the web for research and tasks, to develop a passive relationship with sources?

In Digital there are Treccani Junior and Treccani boys, specially designed for them and highly appreciated, who help to avoid this kind of relationship. But we have to Confirm the value of readingThe feeling of proximity with the book as something that accompanies us, that shares with us, joy and sorrow, which consolidates the knowledge of the themes differently than the digital way: we can open a book, we can go back, we can underline some lines that we will then treat in a diary, or we will write to a friend for the birthday, or we will send a boyfriend. They are a heritage, even for the very young people.

And the very young people have their own specific Lexicon: one of the elements of the greatest change of the new century is certainly represented by language, a fundamental tool of each cultural project, in a proliferation of neologisms, anglicisms, enormous expressions and good and socially structured groups. What is the position of Treccani between the opening, acceptance and ratification of the new and defense of the characteristics and the potential of the Italian language?

The Observatory of the Italian Language It is one of the great containers in which countless data are collected. The language lives, it adapts to changes. Italian is the language of culture: Treccani has used the contribution of great linguists. Come Migliorini, Serianni and now from the valley. First of all it is observed: today they are used different sourcesNo longer just literature, but also songs, show, technology, neuroscience. We record everything, but then the expressions must resort to certain sources, and only then will they become language. A few years ago, Treccani published the First vocabulary entry too female, Because the centrality of the genre was a definitely current theme, but it was made with the work of a highly qualified editorial staff of linguists: again, authority makes the difference.