Research

I have been engaged in research since 1986. Until now, I can separate my research activity into four periods:

• • The first one stands from 1986 to 1994 before I defended my thesis. It is located mostly in Paris. It characterizes my engineering and scientific studies on knowledge acquisition tools for making biological descriptions that are robust for induction and case-based reasoning techniques.

  • The second period is situated in Reunion island between 1994 and 2003. It finishes with the Ph.D. computer science research work of D. Grosser that I supervised for making an Iterative Knowledge Base System (IKBS) dedicated to classification and identification of structured and qualitative descriptions. IKBS is a knowledge engineering tool which was applied on corals of the Mascarene archipelago. I also co-directed another Ph.D. thesis in life sciences by G. Rousse, who defended it in 2003 on the definition of business objects for getting the Systematics domain ontology.

  • The third period lies between 2003 and 2013 before I defended my Accreditation to Direct Research (H.D.R). It represents the desire of several stakeholders and myself to enhance the previous research work on knowledge transmission with a broader view on usage objects in different domains: insular tropical environment management, i.e. the ETIC program on biodiversity protection of natural parcs. In the same period, I engaged myself in the following of two other students in human-machine interaction, one on instrumental e-learning, i.e. how to play guitar pieces as well as a teacher with a multimedia DVD (the E-guitare project of O. Sebastien), and the other on immersive environments such as MMORPGs for enhancing biodiversity information systems (the E-campus project with D. Sebastien). The result is the definition of a co-design methodology on a creativity platform (co-working and co-learning places) for making mock-ups and prototypes really used as e-services.

  • The fourth period is running from 2013 to 2017. It is an attempt to define a new way of managing knowledge with people. It is called Sign Management and emphasizes the sharing of signs with collaborative platforms dedicated to Teaching and Learning activities. This new method is based on the accumulated experience in music and biodiversity management that must reposition human beings at the centre of technologies. The result is the positioning of a Living Lab in Teaching and Learning by Playing to make Reunion Island an example for making e-services with people rather than for them.