Human sciences and system design. From expertise to situated speech

Based on the MIAUCE project' experience, this paper addresses the question of the status and of the responsibility of human sciences in technological projects funded by European Commission.. MIAUCE project aims at developing techniques to analyze the multi-modal behavior of users within the context of real applications. The targeted applications of MIAUCE are located into the surveillance and marketing domains. Besides technological challenges, the technologies at work in MIAUCE devoted to the multimodal observation of human beings, raise societal issues with crucial impact on both the individual autonomy of the 'users' and the vitality of democracy, two societal values we consider mutually productive of each-other, or "co-original". Orientated towards the reflexive return on experience, this paper aims at analyzing the first lesson drawn by the authors from their respective backgrounds in ethics and sociology regarding their responsibility and their participation to the design of the MIAUCE technologies.