Lisbonne, june 2009. At the foot of the monument, flowers, a wreath and especially hundreds of plates are placed in some disorder, marble slabs engraved with golden letters, photos clamped. For an ordinary traveler like me, that’s for sure: it […]

Paris, june 2011. As Scriptopolis goes on vacation, let’s look at some prototype objects of summer: bathing suits, straw hats or, in this picture, umbrellas. Even when produced by prestigious brands, they are rarely provided with inscriptions unless when used […]

Who are we? Where do we come from? Where shall we go? It’s been centuries that these questions are addressed by most philosophical theories. Whether they claim to be or are labelled as evolutionist, existentialist, humanist, ethic, analytical… the very […]

Paris, may 2010. Michèle Grosjean, who left us last saturday, was a very special colleague for a lot of people, especially in the field of French workplace studies. A key member of the ‘Langage et Travail’ network, she was not […]

Boston, may 2011. Nowdays, the @ symbol is taken for granted. Most people with an internet connection use this button on the keyboard without thinking of it. And without knowing its improbable historical trajectory. Despite its controversial origin, it seems […]

Boston, may 2011. Because they sort out entities, signposts are both a matter of discipline and of justice. From this standpoint, the history of traffic lights and their invention is fascinating. At first, these lights were meant to replace policemen […]

Lancaster, december 2010. “Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time. Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines”. As these lyrics point it out, time is the key issue of most […]

Entering this elevator, you’ll find a poster that refers to a register you have to fill and sign if you happen to work in this academic building on a sunday. All the refering dance is a classical one. So is […]

Issy-les-Moulineaux, april 2011. Everybody wants to know the truth. Who is lying ? The unsuspected politician or the unknown housemaid? The international star or the so-called non-person? Lawyers and police departments are directly involved in the making of this kind […]

Issy-les-Moulineaux, june 2010. Let’s come back to windshields. We saw recently that they provide a great exhibition space: a useful showcase where books can be exposed or message displayed without getting spoiled by rain or wind. But they also offer […]

Lancaster, december 2010. From the very beginning of our experience as a pedestrian, we are told to be careful. Crossing a street is never obvious. It is rather a risky business. As kids, we do not pay attention to this […]

Paris, june 2009. We have been trying to show it since the beginning of Scriptopolis: public lettering is extremely diverse. One can find very different kinds of signs and marks in cities. Yet, their very coexistence is not always peaceful. […]

On highway, 2010. Scriptopolis has given many insights into the wonderful innovations and the extraordinary multiplicity of a simple door. It is a means to interlink and distinguish two spaces : inside and outside, here and there, free circulation and […]

We have often insisted on the traces that writing can produce. Its ability to dislocate situations, to transport them from one place to another, from one moment to another. In our times of all-powerful forms, these written traces are crucial. […]

Paris, june 2010. We are regularly told that writing is pregnant with our intimacy, that it is marked by our personality, that it is the ultimate trace of our acts. However, such a particular vehicle is not naturally seen. Reading […]

Clamart, march 2011. We live in a world of archives. We spend a lot of time producing or classifying documents which are only made to testify about our lives. What we bought, what we earned, what we did. These records […]

Paris, march 2011. Footnotes are part of the diverse elements that progressively took place during the long rise of the printing press and the graphic space reorganization of books. Today notes are fully part of our reading and writing practices: […]

Paris, march 2011. Springtime is a delight for scriptopolian people. As the nature awakes day after day, he looks away from writing for once. He pays attention to the small vegetable marks that announce the great transformation, to the light, […]

Toulouse, august 2009. For some, it is very often, indeed every day. For others, it is rather on saturdays. All of them walk down the street and, above all, they quiver with the idea to go shopping. Buying the last […]

Paris, february 2011. This sunday, it’s time for the agricultural fair. Have to take the kid to see cows and pigs. Leaving dowtown, taking the subway, getting off at Porte de Versailles, passing behind the barriers, validating the bar code […]

Paris, march 2011. The world of work is inhabited by writing tools. A great number of them are dedicated to the production of more or less strong forms of control. For instance, some have said, here and there, that Taylor’s […]

Paris, may 2009. Street nameplates, shop signs, billboards do not only punctuate public places, they are especially favorable sites where names are displayed. A proper name of a great historical figure here, a common noun that is part of the […]

I had received the invitation for a long time, I had not paid any particular attention to the address of the hotel. In the past, I used to buy a map of the city. I used to come back quickly […]

It’s always the same with machines: they’re badly thought of. Especially among historians and sociologists. As if humanities meant defense of humanoids. And above all, as if a clear line could be drawn to separate humans and machines. On one […]

Urban settings are made of so familiar components that we do not pay any attention to them: crosswalks, traffic lines, bike lanes, parking lots, bus lanes… only become salient when we miss them and we consider that their presence should […]

She has been literate for only 8 years, she enjoys reading at the point of sometimes refrain from entering a bookseller ‘not to interfere with her schoolwork’, she devours books the same way she eats Nutella or potato chips, she […]

You love this country. Its lands, its cities, its forests. And above all, its skies. You came here a lot, but for the first time you have the opportunity to drive a car. Doing the driver: a good way to […]

Through the ages, car has been object of numerous innovations. Of course, the engine power, noise and consumption as well as the optimal forms of the coachwork have been the focus of reflexions for a long time. Then more recently, […]

One day, as I went back home after grocery shopping, I walked by a store that was apparently being remodeled. What was being hidden by the semi-painted glass that obscured my view as much as it drew my attention and […]

This is not a surprise even he has been often criticized about it: the scriptopolian is obsessed with written objects. He always watch out for them, trying to understand their modes of presence. In order to tell tirelessly what writing […]

During a single day, we may very frequently move from one place to another, we may cross spaces fitted out in very different manners, we may be next to different entities. Yet, one generally does not attach importance to the […]

Since he announced he was on the move to Yale, his colleagues have been telling him how lucky he was, he would see what he was going to see: a place to know for real at last, with its campus […]

In domestic spaces, as well as in public settings, explicit instructions for use directly attached to objects are rare. They are usally written on a separate document, possibly on the package protecting objects before their use. We surely all have […]