Semiotics and semantic: tools for an effective appropriation of information, communication and health technologies

International audienceAs Cultural Objects, ICTs belong to the human sphere. This surround is driven by polysemiotics performances (involving many signs systems) which praxeological semantics permits to interpret. The term of Praxeology (or theory of human action) is used so far as it concerns to link principally technical objects to social practices in which they appears. The meaning of these objects is then studied in relation with the actions to which they are associated. In the case of the ICTs, their proposed "coupling" approaches (in particular for the HMIs) lead to a better use and simplify the appropriation process. The study of users' discourses (evaluations, enunciative positions, social doxa...) is very interesting from this point of view, and should lead to formulate recommendations for a more efficient appropriation of the ICTs. In parallel, semiotics was initially a theory of sign and is today a theory of signification. Its interdisciplinary tradition, linking theories together, turned into a relation devoted to practice. Today, according to a new idea of design related to electronic objects, it often takes place in a plan that relates different disciplines. It offers a common language to all partners and gives tools for a clear depiction of the objects and subjects involved in the interaction and tell how they interact. Very roughly, one can make out various levels of relation: the first concerns the interaction with the electronic object (corpus level), the second the relation with the partners of the projects (dialogue level) and the third, the relation which is planned as a purpose (project level). Involved at each stage, semiotics gives tools for description, dialogue and planning. These polysemiotics parameters permit to emphasize some specific technological solutions that are not widely used today and in particular all the HMIs based on the vocal and/or the gesture approaches for which the interaction modes are kept natural for the persons (for example, a vocal interfa! ce that would be transparently melt in the housing environment and following the context of the person to be assisted. Obviously, this can also be applied to health technology appropriation