CIFRE thesis carried out at the Digital Transition Department of the City of Marseille
Research question for the thesis project : Can a responsible digital strategy help to strengthen a local authority’s public policies in support of ecological and social transitions?
Over the past decade or so in France, the concept of Responsible Digital Technology (RD) has been gaining ground through initiatives originating from academia and/or civil society organisations such as associations or dedicated collectives. A great deal of research is now being carried out on the subject, paving the way for the institutionalisation of discussions centred on a digital landscape that aims to be frugal, inclusive and innovative, with the public interest as its primary focus.
At the same time, the public sector faces a dual challenge: to commit to the digitisation of its services, as required by law, whilst ensuring that these services remain accessible to all members of the public. More recently, there has been discussion of the need for the ecological and digital transitions to coexist at European level, in order to work towards effectively addressing climate challenges, without neglecting societal, economic (underpinned by geopolitics and energy issues) and, more broadly, environmental challenges.
In France, Responsible Digital aims to address the aforementioned challenges, and the law on Reducing the Digital Footprint (REEN) aims to guide a significant part of the public sector – via local authorities with more than 50,000 inhabitants – towards the creation and subsequent implementation of a Responsible Digital strategy.
This research project aims to explore both the possibilities and the limitations of implementing a Responsible Digital Strategy at local authority level, and will involve all relevant stakeholders – citizens, local authority staff, elected representatives, businesses and organisations – through various methods such as surveys, semi-structured interviews and collaborative projects. The objectives of this research, which forms part of the Information Systems Department (DSI), are complementary: namely, to assess the current situation and to support public decision-making by providing insights based in part on field studies.
