The DICEN Laboratory (Information and Communication Systems in the Digital Age – Paris, Île-de-France) is a multi-institutional research unit (EA 7339) jointly supported by the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Université Gustave Eiffel, and Université Paris Nanterre. This partnership has enabled the creation of a research unit of significant size within the field of Information and Communication Sciences in the Paris region.

The laboratory is structured around four thematic areas and one dedicated project:

• Cooperation, Organizations, Systems, and Design

• Traces, Heritage, Cultures, and Memories

• Competitive Intelligence, Territories, and Services

• Data, Documents, and Mediation

As well as a dedicated project: Arts and Cultural Education (ACE), Audiences, and Festivals.

DICEN brings together two research traditions: on the one hand, Information Science, Documentation Studies, and Strategic Intelligence; on the other hand, Communication Studies, Usage Analysis, and Organizational Communication. While these specializations were unevenly distributed across the different institutional teams before their merger into a single research unit, this distinction has gradually disappeared, as each institution now hosts researchers whose work combines both approaches.

Since its creation, DICEN has sought to articulate these two orientations by highlighting the inseparability of interactional dimensions (transaction, cooperation, action), material dimensions (interfaces, documents, traces), and organizational dimensions (information systems, intelligence, decision-making). Although this perspective is now widely acknowledged within the scientific community, the concept of information and communication systems remains a central component of the laboratory’s identity. DICEN is distinguished by this systems-oriented approach to information and communication phenomena.

DICEN’s research also shares a critical perspective on digital technologies, while remaining actively involved in processes of design, innovation, and development. This engagement is grounded in a logic of contributive and empowering intervention.

Beyond a shared interest in common research questions and the stimulating exchanges generated by the intersection of different disciplinary perspectives, the deeper unity of the laboratory lies in the research stance adopted by most of its members. Many projects can be characterized as forms of intervention-based research. Indeed, research activities are generally motivated by socio-economic or broader societal issues and are conducted through ongoing dialogue with the stakeholders concerned by these challenges, including companies, heritage institutions, representatives of economic sectors, organizations from the social and solidarity economy, public authorities, professional associations, and other relevant actors.