Analyzing Websites

Introduction

Luc MASSOU¹, Patrick MPONDO-DICKA² and Nathalie PINÈDE³

¹ CREM, Université de Lorraine, Metz, France

² LERASS, Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès, France

³ MICA, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Pessac, France

I.1. An object that is long-standing and yet still current

From a set of interconnected HTML pages to online service platforms and digital social networks, websites have constantly changed their forms and functions, prompting the humanities and social sciences to renew or invent analytical methodologies on the one hand, and on the other hand to think of praxis, courses of action adapted to non-specialists and future players in digital communication. Additionally, the production of online elements has been on the agenda of communications training since its emergence among the general public and professionals in the early 1990s, according to a different and complementary approach to that implemented for computer scientists. This book seeks to compare these two perspectives – methodological and pedagogical – in information and communication science research by studying Web communication in its technical, discursive, methodological and social dimensions, from the time it is designed to its integration into the digital and communication practices of organizations, whether in the public, non-profit or private sector.

To accomplish this, this book draws on a cycle of scientific study days that began at the end of 2015 at Université Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès, based on ...