Chroniques de Cybérie was launched in November 1994 as a weekly newsletter sent by email. Since April 1995, it has been available on the Web. Both versions are currently available: the e-mail version (5,000 subscribers) and the Web version. In The New York Times, Bruno Giussani wrote: "Jean-Pierre Cloutier (...) is one of the leading figures of the French-speaking Internet community. Cloutier writes one of the most intelligent, passionate and insightful electronic newsletters available on the Internet (...) an original mix of relevant Internet news, clear political analysis and no-nonsense personal opinions, (...) a publication that gave readers the feeling that they were living 'week after week in the intimacy of a planetary revolution'." [Interview 08/06/1998 // Interview 06/08/1999] *Interview of June 8, 1998 (original interview in French) = Could you tell us about your professional work? There are two different things. First I was a translator (after working in communications). I got connected to the Internet at the request of my small translation company's customers because it made it easier to receive the work to translate and then send the result back to them. Quite quickly, I began to get a broader range of customers, including some in the US. Then I made a switch. I stopped translating and became a columnist. At first I was doing it part-time, but it soon became my main activity. For me it was a return to journalism, but in a very different way. In the beginning, Chroniques de Cybérie dealt mainly with news (new sites and new software). But gradually I tackled more fundamental aspects of the Internet, and then branched out into current national and international social, political and economic events. With basic issues, it's fairly simple because all these resources (official documents, news stories, commentary and analysis) are online. You can delve into them, quote them, broaden the analysis and go on with the research. For current events, the choice of subject depends on available resources, and resources are not always easy to find. So you're in the same situation as radio or TV, that if there aren't any audio clips or pictures, even a major event becomes less interesting on the Internet. = How do you see the future? For Chroniques de Cybérie, we could introduce and maintain a formula because entry costs are quite low in this medium. However, everything will depend on the extent of what's called media "convergence" and on whether production costs rise if we need to offer audio and video material to stay in the game. If that happens, we'll have to rethink our strategic partnerships, such as the one linking us to the Ringier group which enabled us to relaunch Chroniques after six months of silence. But however much "convergence" there is, I think there'll always be room for written work and for in-depth analysis of the main questions. *Interview of August 6, 1999 (original interview in French)