i3, une unité mixte de recherche CNRS (UMR 9217)
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Institut Interdisciplinaire de l'Innovation

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September 21: “Low-tech, maintenance, limits: How to rethink digital technology and its environmental impact” Day
Posted on 18 October 2023

The event, organized as part of the ALDIWO1 (Anti-Limits in the Digital World) project, brought together researchers and civil society players at Mines Paris-PSL.

The aim of the day was to explore, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the often overlooked notion of limits in the digital sciences. The organizers were keen to consider the day from an interdisciplinary angle. The event was also inspired by the workshop organized following the visit of American researcher Steven Jackson, who worked on the notion of 'Rethinking Repair'.

The morning was devoted to presentations from sociology, science and technology, and computer science, focusing on alternative or devalued ways of relating to technological development. Speakers addressed the following topics:

  • Presentation by Morgan Meyer (CSI, CNRS, i3) Low-techs and boundary objects
  • Presentation by Jérôme Denis (CSI, Mines Paris - PSL, i3) and DEDavid Pontille (CSI, CNRS, i3) Maintenance and attention to fragility
  • Presentation by Florence Maraninchi (Verimag, Grenoble INP - UGA) *Constraints, limits, optimization: a few examples from inside IT*.

The afternoon was devoted to workshops aimed at outlining interdisciplinary research perspectives for exploring desirable and sustainable socio-technico-ecological futures, and questioning what "the digital" would become if limits were reintroduced.

Other days will be held on this theme.

1ALDIWO project (Anti-Limits in the Digital World). This project has received financial support from the CNRS through MIT's interdisciplinary programs. The environmental impacts of digital technology are being studied in research from two main angles: (1) so-called "Green IT" approaches are aimed at optimizing the power consumption of digital equipment in the usage phase; (2) so-called "Green-by-IT" approaches aim to reduce the environmental impacts of sectors other than digital technology, thanks to digital technology.