The title of my doctoral thesis could be translated to "Metatechnologies and Delegation. Towards Society-Oriented Design in the Web 2.0 Era" and I defended it on november 23rd 2006. You can download the version the jury examined that day, which is, of course, very much in french indeed:

download: these_rieder_finale.pdf (4.7 MO - Adobe PDF)

Abstract

In a world where the growth of information only accelerates, thus creating an "info soup" or an "info bazaar", tools that help with the production of meaning in the digital desert proliferate. We are delegating the realization of always more tasks to autonomous software programs, to "intelligent agents". The practices we follow in the digital environment therefore become hybrids, depending as much on algorithmic as on human actors. This Ph.D. project proposes to tackle the delegation phenomenon by following three axes:

1.) An analysis of the " logic of delegation " that targets the theoretical dimension as much as the practical realizations of this particular form of man-machine relationship.

2.) Restating the software design question by introduction the notion of "symmetry of confidence" between designer and user; the necessary loss of control implied by delegation asks for the rethinking of software as stimulants for specific practices and designers as producers of culture.

3.) Developing a tool (procspace) that transposes the question of delegation into the domain of information retrieval and management. This tool proposes a specific strategy for making use of delegation techniques as well as the practical reflection on the process of design centered on the cultural effects of software applications.

The concept of " delegation " in the sense we use here, allows for a perspective on the production of software that regroups the knowledge of design theories with the cultural sensibilities of the humanities.