L’ambiguïté autour du numérique : une problématique associée à l’usage

Abstract

Scientific knowledge, to be valid, must be produced according to certain rigorous procedures which common sense is not required (Van Campenhoudt et al., 2017). From this perspective, this article aims to offer an epistemological reflection on a common sense term sometimes used imprecisely, specifically the french term “le numérique”. The objective of this article is to carry out a documentary analysis to establish a conceptualization of that term on a scientific level. The results obtained by a thematic analysis of scientific articles and theoretical works show the relevance for researchers of moving away from the terms used by the actors to describe their activity. This allows us to offer a conceptualization of « le numérique » as a technical object that is socially constructed and oriented by uses. The analysis shows that the ways the people use technologies are influenced by social inequalities. To conclude, we show the implications of this work of intelligibility for the development of a digital competence.

Keywords: digital, digital uses, digital inequalities, technology, digital competency