Le code fait-il vraiment la loi ? Analyse de la participation politique sur la plateforme GitHub

Abstract

Through the case of Github, a digital platform of "social coding" which allow collaboration between computer scientists and which is sometimes used as a space of political participation, this article discusses the theory of "third spaces" which suggests that spaces not designed to host such participation can promote the construction of a quality political speech. By showing that the process of opening and diverting third spaces to political participation is fragile, we point to the existence of a normative power, capable of imposing what participation in these spaces should be. We show that a "normative police" exercised by the Github communities reframes the participation towards the expected uses, which limits, in fine, the political scope of these spaces.