The ongoing evolution of technologies and the methods associated with the IT profession, as observed throughout a career, coupled with the acceleration of this trend in recent years and the lack of sociological analysis of its impact on the IT profession, form the basis of this research
topic. The sociological analysis aims to describe the organisational realities of agile transformation: which projects involve a transition to agility, what deployment trajectories are followed, what levels of penetration exist in theory and in practice, but also how this is perceived by the various professional groups involved, particularly by members of the management line—such as, in the case of an IT department, the various categories of IT professionals?

The theoretical framework draws primarily on symbolic interactionism and the sociology of activity, or the pragmatic sociology of work. The research approach adopted is qualitative in nature; it is conducted from an action research perspective. To provide a framework for the conditions of the study and the relationship with Pôle Emploi’s IT department throughout the research, a collaboration agreement was signed between the latter and Gustave Eiffel University.

Building on an agile methodology that originated within the development profession, we will seek to understand how Pôle Emploi interprets it and what adjustments it has made; we will focus on assessing all aspects of the organisational work undertaken in support of this transformation. We will then examine Pôle Emploi’s strategic dimension and how its social and political initiatives are interwoven with its drive for transformation. At the heart of our approach lies the transformation of IT professionals’ work; we will explore the changes in their profession and professional identities, going so far as to understand how IT professionals have come to embrace these changes.

“Know what people think”. This slogan, displayed on the homepage of the British company Brandwatch’s website, sums up the promise of this new industry dedicated to analysing public opinion online: finally knowing what people think, without even having to ask them. Since the mid-2000s, a range of agencies, start-ups and software publishers have indeed been offering to gauge public opinion based on the millions of daily posts on social media: tweets, blog posts, forum messages and even comments in the online press. This vast pool of data is thus utilised by a wide variety of players and tools to measure everything from the reputation of major brands and companies to reactions to an advertising campaign or a televised debate, or even emerging consumer trends; what they all have in common is their focus on the unsolicited opinions of internet users. This approach has, moreover, enjoyed considerable success for several years: in 2015, ten years after the first companies in this field were established, the social media analysis software industry generated $2.2 billion in revenue, according to the consultancy Markets and Markets, which also forecasts that this market will grow to $17.9 billion by 2019.

Distancing itself both from the positivism that surrounds these technologies and from a constructivist critique that remains external to its subject matter, this thesis seeks to describe the emergence of a new type of mediation that harnesses conversational traces from the social web to measure public opinion, thereby renewing the epistemological and political content of this category. Starting from the hypothesis that there is a plurality of forms of opinion and of the mechanisms that measure it, we thus examine an extremely varied set of models, developed by start-ups and innovative companies. We are thus initially interested in attempts to redefine the notion of representativeness through the sampling of mobilised and influential audiences. Secondly, we examine the model that appears to be gaining the upper hand in this market, based on software aimed at the exhaustive and continuous indexing of traces of online conversation. By measuring opinion as a continuous flow of singular events, these tools break definitively with the idea of representativeness and revitalise a framework for understanding opinion as a collective and discursive activity, attentive to the media and relational dynamics of online discussion. This indexical regime of opinion knowledge thus moves away from quantifying majorities and minorities towards measuring mobilisations and shifts in public opinion.

Members of the jury

• Loïc Blondiaux, Professor at the University of Paris I Sorbonne
• Dominique Cardon, Associate Professor at the University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée
• Patrice Flichy, Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (Director)
• Alexandre Mallard, Research Director at Mines ParisTech
• Cécile Méadel, Professor at the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas
• Sylvain Parasie, Senior Lecturer at the University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (co-director)

Whilst digital technology is transforming the energy sector, the scale and nature of this transformation remain to be examined. The design of the Linky smart meter has been accompanied since 2005 by numerous attempts to redefine individual behaviour, advocating the emergence of a ‘smart consumer’, based both on the logic of opening up energy markets and on the principles of energy saving and the energy transition. However, the roll-out of this new technology, which has already been in use in many other countries since the early 2000s, has been the subject of debate ever since its experimental launch in 2010.

Challenging the notion of a place-less and history-less rationality surrounding the Linky meter, this thesis in the sociology of innovation sets out to analyse the forms of politicisation and the ways in which the design, reception and operation of this new technology are appropriated. This study highlights that the characterisations of the Linky meter extend beyond the design phase: meaning and appropriations are constructed within the social worlds involved with the Linky meter. At each stage of innovation within the social worlds studied in relation to the Linky meter, new controversies emerge, centring on debates that appear, on the surface, to be very distant from one another. The Linky meter, as an infrastructure for the digitalisation of the energy sector, thus acts as a catalyst for new questions, in the context of contemporary debates on consumption, health, and digital technology, as negotiated by various ‘cause entrepreneurs’, whether professional or not (advocates for personal data protection, groups of people with electromagnetic hypersensitivity, promoters of the energy transition, campaigners for open personal data, and frontline staff). Omnipresent, the figures of the user and the citizen are constantly invoked within these frameworks of criticism: the user as an active participant in their own consumption, those facing energy insecurity, victims of health impacts, people whose privacy is compromised, and so on.

Focusing on the novelty of the Linky meter or the media controversies it has sparked partly obscures the full range of regulatory processes at work within the social spheres surrounding the Linky meter: this thesis demonstrates that the dynamics of these controversies are linked to local specificities (the socio-political history of the regions; associative and political networks; and the characteristics of the existing stock of analogue meters). The study of the service relationship between field staff and customers also highlights the significance of local regulations: following an intense phase of dispute resolution, professionals will redefine the meaning and uses of the infrastructure within the framework of a pacified service relationship centred on the figure of an honest customer kept at a distance from their metering infrastructure. The Linky meter — what it should be, what it ultimately becomes — reveals a plurality of societal models (a society focused on energy savings, a ‘connected’ society, etc.). This thesis is devoted to the analysis of this process, this ‘socialisation’, which underpins the transformation and adaptation of the Linky meter.

This research, carried out in partnership with the Energy, Technology and Society Research Group (EDF Lab), is based on nearly 135 interviews and ethnographic observations (in Île-de-France, the south-west, in Indre-et-Loire and the Lyon metropolitan area), carried out with all stakeholders involved in both the design and roll-out phases, focusing on two contrasting pilot sites for the Linky meter, as well as analyses of media content and historical archives from energy companies.

Members of the jury

• Sandrine Barrey, Senior Lecturer, University of Toulouse Jean-Jaurès (Examiner)
• Cécile Caron, Research Engineer in Sociology, Energy, Technology and Society Research Group, EDF Lab (Visiting Member)
• Olivier Coutard, Research Director, CNRS (LATTS) (PhD supervisor)
• Éric Dagiral, Senior Lecturer, Paris Descartes University (Examiner)
• Gérald Gaglio, Professor, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis (Jury Rapporteur)
• Benoit Lelong, University Professor, Paris 8 University (Examiner)
• Thomas Reverdy, Senior Lecturer, INP Grenoble (Jury Rapporteur).

Various studies have shown that the physical nature of money contributes to its social significance. The digitalisation of financial services has encouraged young adults to adopt digital methods of storing, managing and paying with money. These new forms of financial services are emerging alongside new methods of bank fraud, which are claiming an increasing number of victims.

It is against this backdrop of the digitalisation of payments that this research into young people and their financial habits is set. This demographic group, characterised by various changes in social and professional status, is considered to be more tech-savvy than others and is thought to be one of the driving forces behind the spread of new forms of technological culture.

The aim of this thesis is to describe and examine young people’s digital practices relating to household accounting, payments and saving. The research will explore how they make use of digital tools for accessing money, how these practices fit into their life trajectories, and what risks are associated with the digitalisation of banking services.

Digital technologies based on artificial intelligence, which have seen a palpable surge in popularity in recent years, make it possible to collect vast amounts of data rich in information, to the extent that businesses are now considering how to utilise them within the workplace. Their developers therefore suggest using the data collected as a means of informing the development of occupational health policies by gathering data on work activity. Is this a genuine tool for advancing the design of policies to prevent and manage risks, accidents and occupational illnesses, or merely a technocratic illusion?

Does this knowledge of work benefit employees as much as it does employers and insurers, or does it merely represent new surveillance tools? These technologies raise numerous questions (regarding their use, purpose and applications). The thesis argues that one of the most crucial questions concerns the conceptual model underlying the design of these devices: does this model represent work as a mechanical and controllable act, or as an activity carried out by individuals? Its aim is to shed light on the question of how work is understood through the analysis of a series of technical innovations which some—who still question their usefulness—wish to see as solutions for the future.

By analysing how a digital market seeks to organise itself and establish its legitimacy, we demonstrate how a conception of ‘connected health in the workplace’ is being shaped by actors who are sometimes far removed from this field, yet who are committed to promoting new models of innovation; this process resonates with the history of how occupational health issues have been framed, particularly those based on quantification.

When these new technological forms come up against the reality of practice, the thesis demonstrates—by examining both the construction of the innovation framework and the issues raised by these experiments, as well as the meanings attached to them by project leaders and their beneficiaries—that service design cannot afford to overlook the link between technology and work.
Furthermore, the thesis argues that this link is not self-evident and requires, in the design phase, a commitment to learning not only about technical and design methodologies but also about labour issues.

Composition of the jury

• Marc-Éric BOBILLIER-CHAUMON, lecturer at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (rapporteur)
• Sophie BRETESCHÉ, Professor, Institut Mines Telecom Atlantique (rapporteur)
• Pascale LEVET, Associate Professor, University of Lyon 3 (examiner)
• Manuel ZACKLAD, lecturer at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (examiner)
• Pascal UGHETTO, Professor, University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (PhD supervisor)

The research project explores Climate-Controlled Environments (CCEs) as an innovative approach to urban production, creating specialised microclimates for food production, ecological protection and human habitation. Although small-scale individually, collectively they are gaining global significance as a response to the uncertainties associated with climate change. The study aims to critically analyse CEs, taking into account their efficiency and productivity in relation to urban socio-political, technological, economic and cultural contexts. It examines the unintended consequences of CEs and their implications for agriculture, challenging traditional notions of sunlight, soil and climatic components in the creation of life. The research examines whether CEs represent a new type of socio-technical infrastructure and their role in urban reproduction under conditions of uncertainty.

The methodology adopts an agnostic approach to data collection, maintaining a critical distance from the technology and taking into account the various urban infrastructure policies. The research agenda focuses on the contextual specificities, objectives and practices of CEs, as well as their socio-spatial consequences. To address these questions, the study offers an analysis of the current state of volumetric climate urbanism, examining the challenges, opportunities, instruments and technologies, and studying the international circulation of CEs across different geographical regions and urban contexts.

The expected outcomes include a thesis, articles in peer-reviewed journals, and presentations at conferences on urban planning and science and technology studies. The researcher plans to collaborate with the popular media, practitioners and decision-makers to ensure a tangible impact in the real world. The mixed-methods research approach includes literature reviews, empirical case studies, qualitative fieldwork and the use of technologies such as digital twins and mapping. The aim is to contribute to ongoing debates on volumetric climate urbanism and urban futures, drawing on the expertise of the Gustave Eiffel University community.

In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, work is set to evolve and frequently take the form of remote working for a significant proportion of employees. There is such a consensus that we are seeing business stakeholders (HR directors, middle managers, affected employees, etc.) considering how to organise these new ways of working. According to the hypothesis that inspires this thesis, the period ahead will be one of individual and collective work necessary to arrange all these elements in order to combine them as effectively as possible, i.e. to enable both productive organisations and individual employees to reconcile the distant and the present, the immediate and the mediated, the formal and the informal.

This thesis therefore hypothesises that it is arrangements – between legal frameworks, physically organised spaces, technologies, forms of collectives, but also employee locations, the configuration of their housing and family life, etc. – that are at stake. These arrangements should be studied in terms of their trajectories of invention or development, which could imply that, rather than a once-and-for-all establishment of new frameworks, we are dealing with learning processes.