Inspired by the fictional construction of Neal Stephenson (2000) and by the fractal geometry of Benoit Mandelbrot (1983), our project consists in an experimental approach dealing with a new form of knowledge organization on levels of detail, accessible by operations of zoom-in and zoom-out. The main question addressed by the study would concern the new types of local / global interaction determined by this kind of structure and its possible applications in the fields of cognitive and pedagogic sciences. The knowledge space will thus be reconsidered as a layout with "depth", allowing a gradual movement from abridged to detailed, and from detailed to abridged, the coherence of the whole being preserved at any level.

Can we imagine therefore new forms of primers, scientific books or help menus based on the zooming-in/out principle? Would be a knowledge organization on "vertical" levels of complexity (for example, starting from intuitive descriptions and gradually including graphic representations and abstract concepts) more helpful for the understanding of a complex matter, as compared to a linear or hypertextual configuration? Could an encyclopedia or a dictionary be conceived as a set of “expanding” articles (from precise definitions to larger and larger contexts) and thus intended to several categories of potential users and involving different degrees of competence and interest in the subject?

The presentation would consist in a software demonstration of a zooming-in and out "travel" through the knowledge space of these categories of possible applications.