At the beginning, the plot is the same for everyone: on 1 August 2009, in the little-known Gâtinais region, 24 characters receive an anonymous e-mail. Who has written this poison-pen letter, which threatens them all with death? What is the link between the psychological terror the writer is exercising today, and the political terror of 1793? From this point on, the investigation heads off in all sorts of different directions: readers can select from a range of navigational options (chronological, random, free choice, or a combination), and each choice he or she makes will determine (through an automatic text generator) what course the story will take as it is written. Complicated? So it seems. To put it briefly, starting from a pre-determined framework (the plot), readers become actively involved in running their own investigation and - therefore - in writing their own novel. At the end of the exercise, no two stories are alike (readers can print their own version of the novel using the Cylibris online publishing system). Between the two lies an interactive journey packed with clues, images, sounds and video footage, based on a permanent dialogue between the server (the website) and the reader. Djeff and Marine developed the Trajectoires project as part of their post-Master's DESS diploma in hypermedia at the University of Paris VIII (and we'll just mention, in passing, the Special Distinction they were awarded along with the examiners' congratulations!), based on the automatic literary text generators developed by their professor, Jean-Pierre Balpe (who also wrote the script). "This is the first time anyone has applied this type of technology to the structure of the novel," explains Djeff. This makes their (experimental) project truly innovative: by offering new ways of writing, it shakes up the relationship between author and reader, to the point of leaving open the question "Who is the author?" Is it Jean-Pierre Balpe, the reader, the machine, or Djeff and Marine's algorithms? One thing is for sure, in any case: Trajectoires has aroused a good deal of interest.

Achievements since winning the grant

The website Trajectoires.com went live in 2000 as part of the worldwide conference Isea 2000, which focuses on art and information technology. The following year. Trajectoires was presented at the FNAC bookstore in Montparnasse. The two winners took part in the Art of Storytelling and New Technologies event at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Today, Marine Nessi works in the Marketing department of IBM.
Djeff took part in organizing the Möbi International Prize at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and also in Beijing (2000 and 2001). In 2002, Trajectoires was shown at the Digit@rt exhibition at the Villette Numérique Festival.
Since 2001, Djeff has been teaching in the Culture and Communications department and has been working as a researcher in the Paragraphe laboratory at the University of Paris VIII. In 2002, he won the People's Prize in the Internet Coupe de France competition.
In 2003, he coordinated the arts event, "Creating Meaning in the Digital Age", for the CIREN (Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Aesthetics). In 2004, he served as the curator for Jouable, an exhibition of artistic and experimental interactive systems at the ENSAD, a prestigious school of decorative arts.
http://www.jouable.net/expo_jouable3_fr.html
In 2005, he joined ENSAD's Interactive Research Centre (ARI), where he works on artistic projects.
In August 2006, Djeff's vidéopong was shown at the Pong Mythos exhibition in Leipzig, Germany for the Games Convention. http://www.pong-mythos.net/
At the end of September 2006, two of the prize winner's installations, ParisPong and Hyper Olympic, were shown at Villette Numérique 2006 and the Emergence Festival. In early October 2006, Djeff participated in the Pocket Film Festival at the Pompidou Centre with three pieces of work, one performance (surecoute.com), one installation (thick distance) and a collection of short films (patientez svp...). Lastly, he has been running a digital technologies workshop in two high schools as part of an experimental educational initiative by the Paris School of Political Science since the start of the 2006-07 academic year.