Why are some websites researched more than others? A review of research into the global top twenty

The web is central to the work and social lives of a substantial fraction of the world’s population, but the role of popular websites may not always be subject to academic scrutiny. This is a concern if social scientists are unable to understand an aspect of users’ daily lives because one or more major websites have been ignored. To test whether popular websites may be ignored in academia, this article assesses the volume and citation impact of research mentioning any of twenty major websites. The results are consistent with the user geographic base affecting research interest and citation impact. In addition, site affordances that are useful for research also influence academic interest. Because of the latter factor, however, it is not possible to estimate the extent of academic knowledge about a site from the number of publications that mention it. Nevertheless, the virtual absence of international research about some globally important Chinese and Russian websites is a serious limitation for those seeking to understand reasons for their web success, the markets they serve or the users that spend time on them. The sites investigated were Google, YouTube, Facebook, Baidu, Wikipedia, QQ, Tmall, Taobao, Yahoo, Amazon, Twitter, Sohu, Live, VK, JD, Instagram, Sina, Weibo, Yandex, and 360

COMPUTER GENERATED PAPERS AS A NEW CHALLENGE TO PEER REVIEW

Computer generated papers (CGP) pose a serious problem to academic integrity and publishing. The problem began with SCIgen. Created in 2005 by MIT students, SCIgen is a software program that generates papers with simulated content. In 2014, we learned that more than 120 CGP passed through the peer review process, were published in well-known academic journals, and had to be retracted. I conducted research into the journal editing and peer review process to discover more about this problem and how it might be remedied. I conducted interviews with five journal editors from across the world, coded the information, and performed a thematic analysis. My thesis concludes with recommendations to control the CGP problem, including: increased awareness on the part of journal editors, CGP detection software, improving due diligence on the part of reviewers, and addressing the publish or perish paradigm that drives desperate faculty to compromise academic integrity by submitting CGP to journals

A machine learning taxonomic classifier for science publications

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engineering and Management of Information SystemsThe evolution in scientific production, associated with the growing interdomain collaboration of knowledge and the increasing co-authorship of scientific works remains supported by processes of manual, highly subjective classification, subject to misinterpretation. The very taxonomy on which this same classification process is based is not consensual, with governmental organizations resorting to taxonomies that do not keep up with changes in scientific areas, and indexers / repositories that seek to keep up with those changes. We find a reality distinct from what is expected and that the domains where scientific work is recorded can easily be misrepresentative of the work itself. The taxonomy applied today by governmental bodies, such as the one that regulates scientific production in Portugal, is not enough, is limiting, and promotes classification in areas close to the desired, therefore with great potential for error. An automatic classification process based on machine learning algorithms presents itself as a possible solution to the subjectivity problem in classification, and while it does not solve the issue of taxonomy mismatch this work shows this possibility with proved results. In this work, we propose a classification taxonomy, as well as we develop a process based on machine learning algorithms to solve the classification problem. We also present a set of directions for future work for an increasingly representative classification of evolution in science, which is not intended as airtight, but flexible and perhaps increasingly based on phenomena and not just disciplines.A evolução na produção de ciência, associada à crescente colaboração interdomínios do conhecimento e à também crescente coautoria de trabalhos permanece suportada por processos de classificação manual, subjetiva e sujeita a interpretações erradas. A própria taxonomia na qual assenta esse mesmo processo de classificação não é consensual, com organismos estatais a recorrerem a taxonomias que não acompanham as alterações nas áreas científicas, e indexadores/repositórios que procuram acompanhar essas mesmas alterações. Verificamos uma realidade distinta do espectável e que os domínios onde são registados os trabalhos científicos podem facilmente estar desenquadrados. A taxonomia hoje aplicada pelos organismos governamentais, como o caso do organismo que regulamenta a produção científica em Portugal, não é suficiente, é limitadora, e promove a classificação em domínios aproximados do desejado, logo com grande potencial para erro. Um processo de classificação automática com base em algoritmos de machine learning apresenta-se como uma possível solução para o problema da subjetividade na classificação, e embora não resolva a questão do desenquadramento da taxonomia utilizada, é apresentada neste trabalho como uma possibilidade comprovada. Neste trabalho propomos uma taxonomia de classificação, bem como nós desenvolvemos um processo baseado em machine learning algoritmos para resolver o problema de classificação. Apresentamos ainda um conjunto de direções para trabalhos futuros para uma classificação cada vez mais representativa da evolução nas ciências, que não pretende ser hermética, mas flexível e talvez cada vez mais baseada em fenómenos e não apenas em disciplinas

Natural Language Processing and Temporal Information Extraction in Emergency Department Triage Notes

Electronic patient records, including the Emergency Department (ED) Triage Note (TN), provide a rich source of textual information. Processing clinical texts to create important pieces of structured information will be useful to clinicians treating patients, clinicians in training, and researchers and practitioners in biosurveillance. This work applies natural language processing (NLP) and information extraction (IE) techniques to the TN genre of text. In particular, it presents the Triage Note Temporal Information Extraction System (TN-TIES), which combines a shallow parser, machine learned classifiers, and handwritten rules to identify, extract, and interpret temporal information in TNs in preparation for the automatic creation of a timeline of events leading up to a patient's visit to the ED. The success of TN-TIES suggests that NLP and IE techniques are appropriate for the genre and that the automatic production of a timeline of TN events is a realistic application

Fast video caption detection based on visual rhythm

Orientadores: Neucimar Jerônimo Leite, Hélio PedriniDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Detecção de textos em imagens é um problema que vem sendo estudado a várias décadas. Existem muitos trabalhos que estendem os métodos existentes para uso em análise de vídeos, entretanto, poucos deles criam ou adaptam abordagens que consideram características inerentes dos vídeos, como as informações temporais. Um problema particular dos vídeos, que será o foco deste trabalho, é o de detecção de legendas. Uma abordagem rápida para localizar quadros de vídeos que contenham legendas é proposta baseada em uma estrutura de dados especial denominada ritmo visual. O método é robusto à detecção de legendas com respeito ao alfabeto utilizado, ao estilo de fontes, à intensidade de cores e à orientação das legendas. Vários conjuntos de testes foram utilizados em nosso experimentos para demonstrar a efetividade do métodoAbstract: Detection of text in images is a problem that has been studied for several decades. There are many works that extend the existing methods for use in video analysis, however, few of them create or adapt approaches that consider the inherent characteristics of video, such as temporal information. A particular problem of the videos, which will be the focus of this work, is the detection of subtitles. A fast method for locating video frames containing captions is proposed based on a special data structure called visual rhythm. The method is robust to the detection of legends with respect to the used alphabet, font style, color intensity and subtitle orientation. Several datasets were used in our experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodMestradoCiência da ComputaçãoMestre em Ciência da Computaçã

Médiévistes et ordinateurs. Organisations collectives, pratiques des sources et conséquences historiographiques (1966-1990).

From the late 1950’s onwards, the rapid emergence and growing use of computers in the humanities brought about many changes in the practices of researchers. My PhD dissertation sets out to analyze some of the historiographical transformations caused by these technical innovations. With this aim in mind, I focus on a small group of medievalist historians who used these tools for research purposes between 1966 and 1990.This thesis deals with two main issues. Firstly, it looks at how, in that context, new forms of collective organization emerge at different scales, beginning inside the research team and extending to encompass the whole discipline. My dissertation shows how these forms are articulated with the production, manipulation and circulation of new types of texts (coding sheets, punched cards, computer programs, coding books, but also liaison bulletins). Secondly, it deals with the ways in which the historians’ methods are transformed in correlation with the operation of the computers. In this perspective, I highlight the fact that these new technologies and the knowledge associated with them (data analysis, automatic text-processing, computer science, etc.) entailed to work with a set of intellectual technologies (matrices, graphs, lists, indexes, inventories, thesaurus, etc.) that required a strengthened formalization in each of the activities associated with the medievalists’ research. Moreover, each of these intellectual technologies was, in this specific context, endowed with its own original functions.The methodology I develop is underpinned by two firm beliefs. While I acknowledge the idea that the historian of the humanities has to apply to his objects the methods developed by historians of science, I also show that it could be worthwhile, in order to grasp the realities of the historians’ research practices, to focus on the texts they produced, handled and exchanged. This second approach requires us to borrow some methods of research from linguistics, and in particular from discourse analysis.This study is divided into three parts. In part one, I analyze two French medievalist projects in 1966-1990, so as to compare their collective organizations (manpower, computer science collaborators, funding, computing tools), the extra- disciplinary influences exerted on them (demographic, geographical, linguistical, sociological), the methods they developed (lexicometry, quantitative history) and their historiographical consequences.In part two, I expand on the process by which some of these entities set up a meta- collective organization, so they could exchange the fruits of their research (computer editions, databases, computer programs, etc.) as well as the methods and techniques they had developed on their specific projects. The object of the analysis is a French-based initiative forming part of a Europe-wide project, which was launched at a colloquium in Rome in 1975. A few years later, in 1979, the same organizers published the first European periodical dedicated to this subject, the liaison bulletin Le Médiéviste et l’ordinateur. This rapidly became one of the main media for the dissemination of methods and the construction of a common scientific culture.The third part of my dissertation is dedicated to the modes of exchanges that took shape within the pages of the bulletin. Two different directions are explored: 1) the genre of papers born out of the newfound need to share computer-related technical knowledge and 2) the difficulties that some of the authors encountered at a technical and epistemological level in the process of sharing this knowledge with their colleagues.Dès la fin des années 1950, l'irruption des calculateurs électroniques dans les sciences humaines et sociales a profondément affecté les pratiques des chercheurs qui se sont saisis de ces nouveaux outils de classement et de calcul. Cette thèse vise à analyser certaines transformations historiographiques que ces innovations techniques ont provoquées, en se concentrant sur un large groupe d’historiens médiévistes mettant en œuvre ces instruments pour mener leurs recherches entre 1966 et 1990.Mes problématiques s’organisent autour de deux préoccupations principales. Tout d’abord, ce travail s’interroge sur l’apparition de nouvelles formes d’organisation collective de la recherche, à l’échelle des équipes de recherche comme de la discipline elle-même. Ma thèse montre comment ces formes s’articulent à la production, à la manipulation et à la mise en circulation de nouveaux types de textes (bordereaux de saisies, cartes perforées, programmes informatiques, manuels de codage, mais également bulletin de liaison).De plus, cette thèse se propose d’analyser les transformations des méthodes des historiens liées à l’utilisation des moyens électroniques. J’y mets en évidence que le recours aux calculateurs électroniques et aux ensembles de savoirs associés à leurs utilisations (analyse de données, analyse automatique de textes, informatique documentaire) impliquait l’emploi de technologies intellectuelles (matrices, graphes, listes, index, inventaires, thesaurus, etc…) qui requéraient une formalisation accrue des opérations de recherche des médiévistes, tout en étant dotées, dans ce contexte de fonctions originales.Pour travailler à ces problématiques, la méthodologie développée dans ce travail repose sur deux convictions. Tout d’abord, j’y développe l’idée qu’il faut appliquer à l’histoire des sciences humaines et sociales les méthodes développées par les historiens des sciences. Ensuite, celle qu’il est nécessaire, pour saisir les pratiques des historiens, d’étudier les textes sur lesquels reposent ces pratiques. Cette seconde direction nous a conduit à emprunter des méthodes de recherche à la linguistique, et en particulier à l’analyse de discours.Cette thèse est ainsi construite en trois parties. Dans la première, je propose une analyse de deux projets de recherches menés par des médiévistes français entre 1966 et 1990, aux fins de comparer leurs organisations collectives (taille des équipes, présence d’informaticien, type de financement, outils de calculs employés), les influences extra- disciplinaires qu’ils subissent dans l’élaboration de leurs méthodes (démographie, géographie, linguistique, sociologie), mais aussi les méthodes qu’ils mettent en œuvre (lexicométrie, histoire quantitative) et les conséquences historiographiques de ces travaux.Dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, je traite des processus par lesquels certains collectifs engagés dans l’utilisation des ordinateurs se sont organisés à une échelle méta- collective, dans le but de faire circuler les produits de leurs recherches (éditions, bases de données, programmes informatiques, etc…) et des méthodes et des techniques qu’ils avaient pu développer au cours de leurs expériences respectives. L’analyse porte sur une initiative française, à portée européenne, qui démarre avec l’organisation d’un colloque à Rome en 1975 et se poursuit par la mise en œuvre d’une publication en 1979, intitulé Le Médiéviste et l’ordinateur. Ce bulletin de liaison devient, dès lors, l’un des vecteurs privilégiés de la circulation des méthodes et de la construction d’une culture scientifique commune.La troisième et dernière partie est quant à elle consacrée aux modalités des échanges qui prennent forme dans les pages de ce bulletin de liaison. Deux directions sont explorées : 1) le genre d’article qui s’y développe en relation avec la nécessité de faire circuler de nouveaux types de connaissances techniques et 2) les difficultés qu’ont pu rencontrer les utilisateurs de ces méthodes dans le partage de ce type de savoir avec certains de leurs collègues, d’un point de vue technique, mais également épistémologique

Médiévistes et ordinateurs : organisations collectives, pratiques des sources et conséquences historiographiques (1966-1990)

From the late 1950's onwards, the rapid emergence and growing use of computers in the humanities brought about many changes in the practices of researchers. My PhD dissertation sets out to analyze some of the historiographical transformations caused by these technical innovations. With this aim in mind, I focus on a small group of medievalist historians who used these tools for research purposes between 1966 and 1990. This thesis deals with two main issues. Firstly, it looks at how, in that context, new forms of collective organization emerge at different scales, beginning inside the research team and extending to encompass the whole discipline. My dissertation shows how these forms are articulated with the production, manipulation and circulation of new types of texts (coding sheets, punched cards, computer programs, coding books, but also liaison bulletins). Secondly, it deals with the ways in which the historians' methods are transformed in correlation with the operation of the computers. In this perspective, I highlight the fact that these new technologies and the knowledge associated with them (data analysis, automatic text-processing, computer science, etc.) entailed to work with a set of intellectual technologies (matrices, graphs, lists, indexes, inventories, thesaurus, etc.) that required a strengthened formalization in each of the activities associated with the medievalists' research. Moreover, each of these intellectual technologies was, in this specific context, endowed with its own original functions. The methodology I develop is underpinned by two firm beliefs. While I acknowledge the idea that the historian of the humanities has to apply to his objects the methods developed by historians of science, I also show that it could be worthwhile, in order to grasp the realities of the historians' research practices, to focus on the texts they produced, handled and exchanged. This second approach requires us to borrow some methods of research from linguistics, and in particular from discourse analysis. This study is divided into three parts. In part one, I analyze two French medievalist projects in 1966-1990, so as to compare their collective organizations (manpower, computer science collaborators, funding, computing tools), the extra- disciplinary influences exerted on them (demographic, geographical, linguistical, sociological), the methods they developed (lexicometry, quantitative history) and their historiographical consequences. In part two, I expand on the process by which some of these entities set up a meta-collective organization, so they could exchange the fruits of their research (computer editions, databases, computer programs, etc.) as well as the methods and techniques they had developed on their specific projects. The object of the analysis is a French-based initiative forming part of a Europe-wide project, which was launched at a colloquium in Rome in 1975. A few years later, in 1979, the same organizers published the first European periodical dedicated to this subject, the liaison bulletin Le Médiéviste et l'ordinateur. This rapidly became one of the main media for the dissemination of methods and the construction of a common scientific culture. The third part of my dissertation is dedicated to the modes of exchanges that took shape within the pages of the bulletin. Two different directions are explored : 1) the genre of papers born out of the newfound need to share computer-related technical knowledge and 2) the difficulties that some of the authors encountered at a technical and epistemological level in the process of sharing this knowledge with their colleagues.Dès la fin des années 1950, l'irruption des calculateurs électroniques dans les sciences humaines et sociales a profondément affecté les pratiques des chercheurs qui se sont saisis de ces nouveaux outils. Cette thèse vise à analyser certaines transformations historiographiques que ces innovations techniques ont provoquées, en se concentrant sur un large groupe d'historiens médiévistes mettant en oeuvre ces instruments pour mener leurs recherches entre 1966 et 1990. Mes problématiques s'organisent autour de deux préoccupations principales. Tout d'abord, ce travail s'interroge sur l'apparition de nouvelles formes d'organisation collective, à l'échelle des équipes de recherche comme de la discipline. Ma thèse montre comment ces formes s'articulent à la production, à la manipulation et à la mise en circulation de nouveaux types de textes (bordereaux de saisies, cartes perforées, programmes informatiques, manuels de codage). De plus, cette thèse se propose d'analyser les transformations des méthodes des historiens liées à l'utilisation des moyens électroniques. J'y mets en évidence que le recours aux calculateurs électroniques et aux ensembles de savoirs associés à leurs utilisations (analyse de données, analyse automatique de textes, informatique documentaire) impliquait l'emploi de technologies intellectuelles (matrices, graphiques, listes, index, thesaurus, etc.) qui requéraient une formalisation accrue des opérations de recherche des médiévistes, tout en étant dotées, dans ce contexte de fonctions originales. Pour travailler à ces problématiques, la méthodologie développée dans ce travail repose sur deux convictions. Tout d'abord, j'y développe l'idée qu'il faut appliquer à l'histoire des sciences humaines et sociales les méthodes développées par les historiens des sciences. Ensuite, celle qu'il est nécéssaire, pour saisir les pratiques des historiens, d'étudier les textes sur lesquels celles-ci reposent. Cette seconde direction nous a conduit à emprunter des méthodes de recherche à la linguistique, et en particulier à l'analyse de discours. Cette thèse est construite en trois parties. Dans la première, je propose une analyse de deux projets de recherches menés par des médiévistes français entre 1966 et 1990, aux fins de comparer leurs organisations collectives (taille des équipes, présence d'informaticien, type de financement, outils de calculs employés), les influences extra-disciplinaires qu'ils subissent dans l'élaboration de leurs méthodes (démographie, géographie, linguistique, sociologie), mais aussi les méthodes qu'ils mettent en oeuvre (lexicométrie, histoire quantitative) et les conséquences historiographiques de ces travaux. Dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, je traite des processus par lesquels certains collectifs engagés dans l'utilisation des ordinateurs se sont organisés à une échelle méta-collective, dans le but de faire circuler les produits de leurs recherches (bases de données, programmes informatiques, etc.) et les méthodes qu'ils avaient pu développer au cours de leurs expériences respectives. L'analyse porte sur une initiative française, à portée européenne, qui démarre avec l'organisation d'un colloque à Rome en 1975 et se poursuit par la création d'une publication en 1979, intitulé Le Médiéviste et l'ordinateur. Ce bulletin de liaison devient, dès lors, l'un des vecteurs privilégiés de la circulation des méthodes et de la construction d'une culture scientifique commune. La troisième et dernière partie est quant à elle consacrée aux modalités des échanges qui prennent forme dans les pages de ce bulletin. Deux directions sont explorées : 1) le genre d'article qui s'y développe en relation avec la nécessité de faire circuler de nouveaux types de connaissances techniques et 2) les difficultés qu'ont pu rencontrer les utilisateurs de ces méthodes dans le partage de ce type de savoir avec certains de leurs collègues, d'un point de vue technique, mais aussi épistémologique

Medievalists and computers : collective organizations, practices of historical sources and historiographical consequences (1966-1990)

Dès la fin des années 1950, l'irruption des calculateurs électroniques dans les sciences humaines et sociales a profondément affecté les pratiques des chercheurs qui se sont saisis de ces nouveaux outils. Cette thèse vise à analyser certaines transformations historiographiques que ces innovations techniques ont provoquées, en se concentrant sur un large groupe d'historiens médiévistes mettant en oeuvre ces instruments pour mener leurs recherches entre 1966 et 1990. Mes problématiques s'organisent autour de deux préoccupations principales. Tout d'abord, ce travail s'interroge sur l'apparition de nouvelles formes d'organisation collective, à l'échelle des équipes de recherche comme de la discipline. Ma thèse montre comment ces formes s'articulent à la production, à la manipulation et à la mise en circulation de nouveaux types de textes (bordereaux de saisies, cartes perforées, programmes informatiques, manuels de codage). De plus, cette thèse se propose d'analyser les transformations des méthodes des historiens liées à l'utilisation des moyens électroniques. J'y mets en évidence que le recours aux calculateurs électroniques et aux ensembles de savoirs associés à leurs utilisations (analyse de données, analyse automatique de textes, informatique documentaire) impliquait l'emploi de technologies intellectuelles (matrices, graphiques, listes, index, thesaurus, etc.) qui requéraient une formalisation accrue des opérations de recherche des médiévistes, tout en étant dotées, dans ce contexte de fonctions originales. Pour travailler à ces problématiques, la méthodologie développée dans ce travail repose sur deux convictions. Tout d'abord, j'y développe l'idée qu'il faut appliquer à l'histoire des sciences humaines et sociales les méthodes développées par les historiens des sciences. Ensuite, celle qu'il est nécéssaire, pour saisir les pratiques des historiens, d'étudier les textes sur lesquels celles-ci reposent. Cette seconde direction nous a conduit à emprunter des méthodes de recherche à la linguistique, et en particulier à l'analyse de discours. Cette thèse est construite en trois parties. Dans la première, je propose une analyse de deux projets de recherches menés par des médiévistes français entre 1966 et 1990, aux fins de comparer leurs organisations collectives (taille des équipes, présence d'informaticien, type de financement, outils de calculs employés), les influences extra-disciplinaires qu'ils subissent dans l'élaboration de leurs méthodes (démographie, géographie, linguistique, sociologie), mais aussi les méthodes qu'ils mettent en oeuvre (lexicométrie, histoire quantitative) et les conséquences historiographiques de ces travaux. Dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, je traite des processus par lesquels certains collectifs engagés dans l'utilisation des ordinateurs se sont organisés à une échelle méta-collective, dans le but de faire circuler les produits de leurs recherches (bases de données, programmes informatiques, etc.) et les méthodes qu'ils avaient pu développer au cours de leurs expériences respectives. L'analyse porte sur une initiative française, à portée européenne, qui démarre avec l'organisation d'un colloque à Rome en 1975 et se poursuit par la création d'une publication en 1979, intitulé Le Médiéviste et l'ordinateur. Ce bulletin de liaison devient, dès lors, l'un des vecteurs privilégiés de la circulation des méthodes et de la construction d'une culture scientifique commune. La troisième et dernière partie est quant à elle consacrée aux modalités des échanges qui prennent forme dans les pages de ce bulletin. Deux directions sont explorées : 1) le genre d'article qui s'y développe en relation avec la nécessité de faire circuler de nouveaux types de connaissances techniques et 2) les difficultés qu'ont pu rencontrer les utilisateurs de ces méthodes dans le partage de ce type de savoir avec certains de leurs collègues, d'un point de vue technique, mais aussi épistémologique.From the late 1950's onwards, the rapid emergence and growing use of computers in the humanities brought about many changes in the practices of researchers. My PhD dissertation sets out to analyze some of the historiographical transformations caused by these technical innovations. With this aim in mind, I focus on a small group of medievalist historians who used these tools for research purposes between 1966 and 1990. This thesis deals with two main issues. Firstly, it looks at how, in that context, new forms of collective organization emerge at different scales, beginning inside the research team and extending to encompass the whole discipline. My dissertation shows how these forms are articulated with the production, manipulation and circulation of new types of texts (coding sheets, punched cards, computer programs, coding books, but also liaison bulletins). Secondly, it deals with the ways in which the historians' methods are transformed in correlation with the operation of the computers. In this perspective, I highlight the fact that these new technologies and the knowledge associated with them (data analysis, automatic text-processing, computer science, etc.) entailed to work with a set of intellectual technologies (matrices, graphs, lists, indexes, inventories, thesaurus, etc.) that required a strengthened formalization in each of the activities associated with the medievalists' research. Moreover, each of these intellectual technologies was, in this specific context, endowed with its own original functions. The methodology I develop is underpinned by two firm beliefs. While I acknowledge the idea that the historian of the humanities has to apply to his objects the methods developed by historians of science, I also show that it could be worthwhile, in order to grasp the realities of the historians' research practices, to focus on the texts they produced, handled and exchanged. This second approach requires us to borrow some methods of research from linguistics, and in particular from discourse analysis. This study is divided into three parts. In part one, I analyze two French medievalist projects in 1966-1990, so as to compare their collective organizations (manpower, computer science collaborators, funding, computing tools), the extra- disciplinary influences exerted on them (demographic, geographical, linguistical, sociological), the methods they developed (lexicometry, quantitative history) and their historiographical consequences. In part two, I expand on the process by which some of these entities set up a meta-collective organization, so they could exchange the fruits of their research (computer editions, databases, computer programs, etc.) as well as the methods and techniques they had developed on their specific projects. The object of the analysis is a French-based initiative forming part of a Europe-wide project, which was launched at a colloquium in Rome in 1975. A few years later, in 1979, the same organizers published the first European periodical dedicated to this subject, the liaison bulletin Le Médiéviste et l'ordinateur. This rapidly became one of the main media for the dissemination of methods and the construction of a common scientific culture. The third part of my dissertation is dedicated to the modes of exchanges that took shape within the pages of the bulletin. Two different directions are explored : 1) the genre of papers born out of the newfound need to share computer-related technical knowledge and 2) the difficulties that some of the authors encountered at a technical and epistemological level in the process of sharing this knowledge with their colleagues