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Urban Plots, Organizing Cities, Giovanna Sonda, Claudio Coletta, Francesco Gabbi (Ed.) (2010) 11-22

The Graphical Performation of a Public Space. The Subway Signs and their Scripts

Jérôme Denis 1, David Pontille 2, 3

(2010)

In this chapter, we study the ordering process provided by subway signs from an actor-network theory perspective. We adopt the position of M. Akrich (1992) who showed that the innovation process could be compared to the writing of a ‘script' that attributes tasks and positions to people and things, and organizes relations between them. By studying the riders' representations inscribed within signage, we identify the behaviors supposed to take place in subway spaces, and shed the light on the framework of action that the Parisian policy of subway signs supports. We identify four distinct scripts: information, planification, problem solving and reaction. For each one, we precise the riders' definition it relies on, the type of signs that are supposed to carry it, and what it really takes in situation to follow it, that is, what one has to do to effectively become an informed rider, a planner, a problem solver or a reactive entity.

1:	Laboratoire Traitement et Communication de l'Information [Paris] (LTCI)
	Télécom ParisTech – CNRS : UMR5141
2:	Anthropologie de l'Ecriture/Equipe IIAC
	École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] – CNRS : UMR8177
3:	Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Anthropologie du Contemporain (IIAC)
	CNRS : UMR8177 – École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS]

Subject

:

Humanities and Social Sciences/Sociology

Keyword(s): Signage – performation – public space – city – subway – ANT – script

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From: Jérôme Denis <>

Submitted on: Tuesday, 16 November 2010 15:03:12

Updated on: Wednesday, 17 November 2010 12:37:45