ZHOU Chao

This thesis deals with the implementation and scaling up of the `Socio-semantic Web' as defined by Manuel Zacklad in 2003. The main challenge is to propose a computer infrastructure and tools to the service of a meaning which would not be reducible to any formalization and would depend on the human subjects. We focus on three core components needed for sense building: documents (as opposed to data), interpretation (as opposed to deduction), and intersubjectivity (as opposed to consensus). We propose a protocol and user-interfaces for assisting those human and social phenomena. We illustrate our design approach with case studies in diverse fields of sense building: course-material sharing, qualitative analysis of artifacts photographs in archaeology and interviews in sociology, and knowledge management in the automotive industry.