Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 1
·
May 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
129
several media (paper, Web, phones and Touchpad) and to access equipment facilities such as
tactile tables, broadcasting studios, multimedia tablets, Smartphones etc. IRAM brings
together several players in the digital field. This academic centre aims at developing original
research in numerous fields such as communication anthropology, new heritage practices
(such as ‘Museolab’ and ‘Fablab’), social networks studies, digital imaginary and trans-
media.
The public area and digital dimensions are among the major issues of today’s society,
marked by profound changes brought about by the omnipresence of Information and
Communication Technologies. Our links to the surrounding world are thus modified. The
strong presence of digital technology in urban areas alters the very structure of places as well
as our perception of public areas.
This research addresses not only the modalities of change in the social sphere but also
the way in which our perceptions are modified. As regards the digital dimension, perceptions
are now to be redefined or at least questioned. Perceptions are characterized by unrest which
distorts our relationship to reality and to the other. The idea is to set up these ‘new
communicative configurations’ in an urban space that is connected to digital technology. In
other words, this research focuses, for example, on these sensitive types of communications
within the research framework at the IRAM.
These issues have led us to establish links between disciplines of the Social and
Human Sciences, but also with Art, Communication and Technical Sciences of Information.
My research is at the crossroads of various theoretical and disciplinary fields. This
combination allows us to question the digital transition in our contemporary society. IRAM’s
research is transversal in order to produce the sensitive conditions of a singular exploration of
the digital dimension in contemporary society.
Keywords
: IRAM, digital platform, communication anthropology; urban society; imaginary cities; sensitive
relationships; digital research; urban unrest.
