Contenu du sommaire : Nouvelles voix de la recherche en communication

Relating with others, which is often complicated and at times unpleasant, can now be avoided through the use of digital exchange interfaces such as social networking platforms. These new forms of less-constraining sociability set aside the question of bodies that scrutinize, have an impact on, and become synchronized with one another. This article explores the connections between communication and feelings of displeasure by showing the extent to which embarrassment is a constitutive aspect of human communication. Simultaneously a social emotion and a sensory experience, embarrassment is conceptualized through a necessarily interdisciplinary approach, which involves an ethnography of adolescents, who are especially affected by such disruptions of communication.

By reaffirming the central place of the body in every communication process and emphasizing the need to apprehend this body in all of its complexity, this article presents a series of methodological reflections drawn from ongoing doctoral research into the Do-It-Yourself reconstruction of the body in situations of disability.

On the basis of a critical examination of the institutional communication directed at immigrants, this article explores the complex relationship that forms between refugee aid organizations and asylum seekers in Belgium.

This text is meant as a reflection on the concept of posttruth, as defined by the Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris. The author seeks to question the role played by the radical weakening of the shared concept of truth within the phenomenon of “acommunication,” as developed by Wolton and Lepastier (2013). To this end, the article analyzes the debate about immigrants in Italy, as it was occurring on Facebook while the new Salvini-Di Maio government was taking office ; it focuses especially on the recurring appearance of certain images of the corpses of immigrants and of sea rescue missions, and on how these images were used. If, in the paradigm of the society of the spectacle, as described by Guy Debord in 1967, the image transcends its role as representation and takes on the role of a mimetic double, the advent of posttruth produces a different phenomenon : the absence of a shared concept of truth and the triumph of interpretation over fact make it possible for the same image, simultaneously and according to the case, to play the role of an unquestionable truth or a lie, solely for the purposes of propaganda.

This article explores both the role and the content of the religious imagery that can currently be found in the streets of the new districts of the Beirut suburbs. As regards the challenges presented by this phenomenon, four main premises inform this discussion : 1) it is connected to the increase in a local and global sense of identity based on religion, 2) there is a local identity crisis ; 3) the terrain is increasingly segregated into distinct communities, and 4) religion is being imposed as the exclusive normative system.

The spread of digital tools and the ease of access to social networks have an influence not only on the behavior of tourists but also on the kind of information that circulates on social networking platforms. These trends also affect the way in which sightseeing tours are perceived. During such trips, communicating on social networks has become indispensable. In this article, an analysis focusing on the behavior of Asian tourists from China, South Korea, and Japan during their visits to Europe provides a new look at the practices and meaning of communication on social networks and their impact on communication in real life.

Through the example of computer software development, the authors seek to show that the meaning of code crystallizes through communication, understood as exchange and negotiation, rather than through enforcing conventions or creating profuse documentation. This crystallization gives insight into a writing that is constantly evolving, thereby providing ways to limit the computer failures that result from human errors of interpretation.

In the age of globalization and digital “collaboration,” the burgeoning cooperation between machines and translatorusers raises political and ethical questions not only for communication studies but also for the social sciences and humanities as a whole. This phenomenon of human-machine cooperation involves numerous mediations of communication : interlinguistic, intercultural, technological, and scientific, etc. On the basis of an interdisciplinary definition of translation, at the intersection of translation studies, cultural studies, and the sociology of translation, this article explores the concept of the “cooperative translation platform.” It does so in order to examine how communication is mediated within these communication platforms, while also acknowledging the political and ethical commitments of the researcher as mediator within the tools s/he co-constructs and analyzes. This critical and meta-critical approach to innovation goes beyond the question of translation, while remaining indissociable from it.

This study presents an analysis of the multilingual graffiti found in Palestine, specifically in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. Conceived of as semiotic resources, these scriptural, political and politicized writings bear witness to the intensifying presence of international actors and of conflicts that come from “somewhere else.” It shows that, while multilingualism adds variety to the Palestinian linguistic landscape, it also highlights the transnational character of protest, which goes beyond local demands.

To capture the attention of hundreds of millions of users, influencers who use the Instagram platform must work to optimize their presentation and their interactions with others. Through a linguistic analysis of their subscriber comments, this research sheds light on the strategic issues faced by these new influencers, who must reveal themselves in a blurred and ambivalent manner. The name of this identity and the definition of this biodigital character are used here in their broadest meanings.

This article discusses the benefits of the interactionist concept of the social world for journalism studies. The approach aims to be both grounded and flexible, and the shadow cast by the actors under consideration extends well beyond the realm of professional journalists. The contributions of Becker and Strauss provide an especially fruitful means for replenishing the worlds of journalism and the group of actors who compose them. This involves proposing a specific scientific approach that draws on an interdisiplinary and international research network; it strives to grasp the incremental transformations of the worlds of journalism which, as we argue, become observable in relation to three key, interrelated factors: careers, conventions, and commitments.

Throughout the world, more and more media outlets are making use of sections or columns that provide fact checking. Their purpose is to verify the truth of statements, especially those made by politicians in the public sphere. In France, where it has long been unusual to question the speech of politicians so directly, these fact-checking efforts are creating new and potentially contentious modes of relating ; they are doing so not only among journalists who work in the same newsrooms, but also between journalists and politicians. Such politicians seek to limit the risks introduced when their statements are checked, so that they can continue to convey their messages to the public.

In this “new world,” where the influence of the media is undeniably growing, but is also uncertain, and where we face the new and even exclusive social phenomena represented by “fake news,” we are led to question the nature of its objectives. An examination of the conceptual apparatus of fake news shows how it is linked to rumor.

This article explores autobiographical video games and presents a model for analyzing how they play a part in creating spaces of mediation between the designer, the gamer and the game system. An examination of two games – Brothers : A Tale of Two Sons (Starbreeze Studios, 2013) and Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine, 2016) – provides an interpretive framework that shows the interconnection of the concepts of referent, memory-figure (the representation of the referent in the game) and action-figure (the possible interactions between the memory-figure and the gamer). This framework provides a better way of interpreting the meaning of the rules that structure this recreational activity.

On the basis of the semiotic-pragmatic approach and the hypertext model of communication, this article explores the world of theme parks in terms of situations in which there is a discrepancy between three moments : the promised experience, the visible experience and the experience that is later written about. The initial supposition is that the idea of taking a trip should be considered first and foremost as a discursive construction in which ideas and ideals come face to face; like theme parks and in keeping with trends, this construction is the source of moralizing, black-and-white directives. Through an examination of comments left on TripAdvisor and observations of three French theme parks, the argument seeks to grasp the elements that can lead to an understanding of the quest to be somewhere else and to submerge ourselves in closed universes, where narrative seeks to dominate space.

Today's museums are in the midst of a transition : they are seeking to create a new kind of public space, which must provide visitors with food for critical thought and reflection. This is why museologists are so deeply preoccupied with finding ways to encourage public participation. This article brings the domains of museology and ergonomics together, in order to offer new avenues for addressing the challenges faced by museums and related institutions. It presents the foundations of the ergonomics of exhibitions and ways in which these can be developed for the study of the visitor experience.

Although works of art are now habitually the occasions for scandal and polemics, they have not, however, when seen in historical terms, been political. They have become so only through a process in which artists became determined to empower themselves; starting in the late nineteenth century, they began to oppose normalized and dominant conventions. This change of perspective allows artistic polemic to be analyzed in terms of a communications approach, as a strategic form of identification and positioning that has persisted into the present and has grown considerably. It has done so not only because numerous social actors (including politicians and judges) have appropriated it, but also because the development of new means of communication has conveyed it to the public at large. The goal of this polemic is to inflict its own vision of the world and its own interests on others; the means it marshals remain massive and irrevocable, and they are not being used to open up new avenues for dialogue; the models of this form of communication are still nothing more than an accumulation of vectors that never intersect, each of which aims to generate more symbolic violence than the next. Nevertheless, artistic polemic remains an unequaled means of augmenting public space and making it more democratic.

In this article, recruitment is approached as a phenomenon of communication. This approach includes a constructivist epistemological position and a method based on situated observation of receptors. Initial results reveal the limits of recruitment when it is publicized. A second phase of exploratory research analyzes chatbots. Finally, the myth of Hermes provides an illustration of the importance of asking questions when conceptualizing the recruitment relationship.

In the area of cancer screening and prevention, healthcare institutions define recommended guidelines for practitioners. These recommendations cross over different social spaces and are transformed by various actors and mechanisms whose aim is to inform and persuade the particular public that has been targeted. Observing the mechanisms of communication that constitute public health campaigns provides a way to explore the phenomenon as a mediation process, one into which such a public can be incorporated as an actor in its own right. Different publics and their ways of appropriating recommendations can then be grasped in terms of the situational and interdependent constructions of the actors and mechanisms that are involved. The opinions of the sectors of the public who receive these recommendations are ultimately the singular result of this mediation.

Music is an integral component of political communication and marketing, and it is one of the favorite symbolic tools used in strategies for producing and legitimizing electoral campaigns. Although the very omnipresence of such music has made it an unobtrusive backdrop, a background noise that we hear without really listening to it, it nevertheless sets the pace of a campaign and the tone of its candidates. Listening to and analyzing the melodies of political parties invite us to understand music as a true tool for knowing and comprehending politics. However, in France, in the field of political science (for which political parties are a canonical object of study), very little work has been done on campaign music; it is viewed as a one technical element among others, one that does not participate in politics as such. While each campaign team has its own musical requirements, the influence of marketing on political music remains an open question. What are the distinguishing features of the music of power produced within the reference frame of political marketing?

The emergence of civil society in Vietnam is closely connected with the arrival of the Internet at the end of the 1990s. When viewed from a neo-Gramscian perspective, this arrival reveals not only the deep reconfiguration of public spaces and their relations with power, but also the constant metamorphosis of Vietnamese authoritarianism when faced with the new challenges posed by civil society.

On the basis of both comprehensive interviews conducted with actors responsible for economic and digital innovation policies and an analysis of a corpus of institutional documents including the Digital Cameroon 2020 strategic plan, this article seeks to throw light not only on the rationale for governmental policy towards increased digitization but also on the rhetoric that accompanies it. It is based on a (critical) political economy of communications, showing how governmental demands for digital innovation are part of a global dynamic of economic conversion, which favors creativity. It also shows how, in a situation of near civil war – one that is found especially in the Anglophone part of the country, which is thought of as Cameroon's “Silicon Valley” – and against the backdrop of youth discontent and exclusion, the rhetoric about digital technology and creativity are at the heart of an effort to present Cameroon in a particular light : as a country that is in the midst of a complete economic transformation, or at least in a phase of transition towards becoming an emerging economy with full employment. References to digital innovation and creativity are attempts to hide the failure, or rather the absence, of a real economic and industrial policy and its effects, in particular, on young people.

This article seeks to bring out the originality of the communication processes that occur within the dynamics of social transformation. More specifically, an exploration of the emergence, the processes and the outcome of social innovations that can bring about such change shows that incommunication is a triggering factor of a social group's drive for transformation; deliberation is the motivating force for the renewal of the group's symbolic base. Finally, the significance of a praxeological approach to communication in diffusing these innovations throughout society is emphasized. This sort of communication praxis is contrasted with standard marketing strategies, for praxis is a collection of actions that organize perspectives that are shared, and thus serve as vectors for institutionalizing new practices and representations.

The collective dynamic, which has been weakened and then forgotten, is at the root of humanity's most ambitious past projects, as well as of those that are still to come. Central to human interaction, communication demonstrates that the participatory relation is the basis for everything that can be imagined, created, and accomplished. Five examples are presented to show how contribution, the ultimate dimension of thinking and working together, relies on collective intelligence and the interpersonal inclinations within a group, transcending the accumulation of knowledge and methods.

In the digital era, in which we are confronted with the rapid advances in new communications technologies, some observers decry the impasses of digital communication. In contrast to the “technology evangelists,” who are fascinated by technical progress, claiming that digital communication is enabling us to overcome the spatial and temporal limits of human communication, the doomsday scenarios of “Neo-Luddites” warn against and condemn the aporias of incommunication; such aporias are supposedly being brought about by the prevalence of digital communication, which is degrading human relationships. Today, it is incumbent upon us to construct a critical reflection on the issues of incommunication in the digital era; we shall endeavor to do so within the context of a psychoanalytic anthropology, in order to differentiate between the “discontents” of today's communication and the structural incommunication that is constitutive of all human communication.

Lebanese and Jordanians coexist as members of many groups on Whats
App, a platform where they can write messages in both the Arabic abjad and the Latin alphabet. Although each country has a different dialect, these users find ways to understand each other by choosing to communicate in a variety of manners. The exchanges among Jordanians within the same WhatsApp group have an influence on how Lebanese members communicate. Classical Arabic tends to be difficult for many Lebanese, but they change their habits and agree to use either it or other means of communication in order to participate in discussions with Jordanians. In these WhatsApp groups, each member's communication practices identify his or her origins and nationality.

Users of “social” networks are engaged in a continuous performance that is punctuated with “likes,” which have become a new ritual of interaction. Since “like” is a sign of agreement and approval that can, through the tyranny of mere number, produce a truth-effect, what becomes problematic is human beings' relations to ways of accessing knowledge and evaluating ideas. The major challenge in this goes to the very heart of how democracy works: the latter consists in flushing out manipulation and false identities and in preventing the reliability and value of information from being measured solely in terms of the number of “likes” it has received. This article explores the role and the status of the content that circulates on social networks and seeks ways in which the aim and object of these online networks can once again become a venue for sharing, which will enhance the common interest.

What should we do when we find a needle in the haystack of the Web? Ostensibly intended to help us communicate, certain platforms have come to dominate our ways of informing ourselves, thus maintaining a crisis of inspiration. The needle of actionresearch echoes the burgeoning criticism of the Big Four Tech companies of GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon) in trying to provide a concrete experience of infomediation, with the wager that human communication can regain ground that has been lost to the infomediation performed by algorithms.

The World Wide Web is a communication system that emerged from Western culture, and therefore questions can be raised about its legitimacy, in terms of both its ideology and its practical applications. Although it is available to all, the Web has no connection to the traditions of certain communities; this can serve to reinforce inequality by forcing some to adopt the culture of others. To address this problem, the concept of invention is relevant because it maintains an interdependent relation with the concept of culture, which can be understood as a collection of discoveries and creations. These reflections are given form through an exploration of the Mukurtu CMS, a content management system specifically designed for storing and sharing the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples.

This article presents an analysis of the mechanisms that have led to the emergence of “slow journalism” and of a narrative journalism that has appeared as both an alternative to more conventional journalistic approaches and a means of producing long-form reporting of the sort that is less and less possible for daily newspapers and magazines to finance. This new type of journalism is inseparable from the context of the crisis of institutional journalism, which is losing its impetus. Mooks, the hybrid publications in which such articles appear, are also discussed, in terms of the tensions between the effort to renew reporting (which is the counterpart of a certain scientificity) and the subjectivity of reporters, which is acknowledged in the narrative (but not in their treatment of events).