Awards & distinctions
- 2023 Winner of the 2023 Architecture Book Prize from the Académie d'architecture for the book *Le soin des choses* (La Découverte) and finalist for the "Penser le travail" Prize from Sciences Po and *Le Monde*
Team
CSI
Biography
David Pontille is a social scientist specializing in the study of science and technology (STS). His work explores the practices of maintenance, repair, and upkeep of technical and urban objects, as well as their epistemic and political dimensions. His research is based on ethnographic studies conducted in a variety of contexts, such as water network management, graffiti removal, and signage in the Paris metro. In particular, he analyzes the processes of material fragility, regimes of attention, and dynamics of care that structure these activities, which are often rendered invisible despite their central role in the stability of infrastructure. At the same time, David Pontille is interested in the challenges of scientific evaluation, studying bibliometric systems, contribution taxonomies (such as CRediT), and publication policies, as well as their effects on research practices and structural inequalities.
Publication(s)
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2026
The Endless Repetition of Graffiti Writing and Removing: Gestures, Sites, Traces DOI : 10.20415/rhiz/041.e08
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2025
Maintenance and Repair DOI : 10.1002/9781394388516.ch12
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2024
The Material Politics of Graffiti Removal DOI : 10.1080/08949468.2024.2366675
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2023
Cultivating Attention to Fragility: The Sensible Encounters of Maintenance DOI : 10.51952/9781529239560.ch022
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2023
Before Breakdown, after Repair: The Art of Maintenance DOI : 10.4324/9780429355950-19
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2022
Getting attached to a classic Mustang. Use, maintenance and the burden of authenticity DOI : 10.1177/13591835211068940
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2021
Investigating the division of scientific labor using the contributor roles taxonomy (Credit) DOI : 10.1162/qss_a_00097
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2021
Maintenance epistemology and public order: Removing graffiti in Paris DOI : 10.1177/0306312720956720
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2019
A story of time keepers
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2018
The multiple walls of graffiti removal: Maintenance and urban assemblage in Paris DOI : 10.4324/9780203730225
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2018
Towards a study of city experiments DOI : 10.4324/9781351182409
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2016
Praise of complexity: Researchers’ signature and the layer cake of the organizational affiliations in the research evaluation process; [Éloge de la complexité : la signature des chercheurs et le millefeuille de l'affiliation institutionnelle dans les processus d’évaluation de la recherche] DOI : 10.1016/j.jemep.2016.07.008
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2016
The Graphical Performation of a Public Space: The Subway Signs and their Scripts1 DOI : 10.4324/9781315548746-2
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2015
Material Ordering and the Care of Things DOI : 10.1177/0162243914553129
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2015
From Manuscript Evaluation to Article Valuation: The Changing Technologies of Journal Peer Review DOI : 10.1007/s10746-014-9335-z
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2014
Writing between order and disorder: The maintenance record as normative description; [Une écriture entre ordre et désordre: Le relevé de maintenance comme description normative] DOI : 10.1016/j.soctra.2013.12.020
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2014
Maintenance work and the performativity of urban inscriptions: The case of paris subway signs DOI : 10.1068/d13007p
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2013
Une Infrastructure Élusive: Aménagements cyclables et troubles de la description dans OpenStreetMap DOI : 10.3917/res.178.0091
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2013
Une infrastructure élusive: Aménagements cyclables et troubles de la description dans OpenStreetMap DOI : 10.3917/res.178-179.0091
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2013
The manufacturing of scientific evaluation; [La manufacture de l'évaluation scientifique] DOI : 10.3917/res.177.0023
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2012
Travailleurs de l'écrit, matières de l'information DOI : 10.3917/rac.015.0001
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2012
Workers of writing, materials of information DOI : 10.3917/rac.015.0021
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2012
Behind the scenes of scientific articles: Defining categories of fraud and regulating cases; [Dans les coulisses des articles scientifiques : Définir des catégories de fraude et réguler les affaires] DOI : 10.1016/j.respe.2012.06.395
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2012
Trabajadores de lo escrito, materias de la información DOI : 10.3917/rac.015.0040
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2012
The graphical performation of a public space: The subway signs and their scripts
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2012
Erratum à l'article : « Dans les coulisses des articles scientifiques : Définir des catégories de fraude et réguler les affaires » de D. Pontille et D. Torny [Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique 60 (4) (2012) 247-53] DOI : 10.1016/j.respe.2012.10.004
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2010
Performativité de l'écrit et travail de maintenance DOI : 10.3917/res.163.0105
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2010
Updating a Biomedical Database: Writing, Reading and Invisible Contribution
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2010
The controversial policies of journal ratings: Evaluating social sciences and humanities DOI : 10.3152/095820210X12809191250889
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2010
Placing subway signs: Practical properties of signs at work DOI : 10.1177/1470357210382189
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2010
The graphical performation of a public space: The subway signs and their scripts
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2007
When the rules are not enough: Fortunes and misfortunes of regulated work. Commentary; [Quand les règles ne suffisent pas: Heurs et malheurs du travail réglementaire Commentaire] DOI : 10.1684/sss.2007.0304
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2004
Signature and attribution: The scientific author's motivations; [Signature et travail d'attribution] DOI : 10.3917/res.127.0253
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2003
Authorship practices and institutional contexts in sociology: Elements for a comparison of the United States and France DOI : 10.1177/0162243902250905
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2003
Legal texts and the test of the electronic signature: a pragmatic approach; [L'écrit juridique à l'épreuve de la signature électronique, approche pragmatique] DOI : 10.3917/ls.104.0083
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2003
Biobanks for genomics and genomics for biobanks DOI : 10.1002/cfg.333
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2001
L'auteur scientifique en question: Pratiques en psychologie et en sciences biomédicales DOI : 10.1177/053901801040003004
PhD supervision
- 2025 Le graffiti comme expérience matérielle de la ville : gestes, outils, surfaces. Robinson Chapron
- 2024 What is a durable pair of jeans? BEAURE D'AUGÈRES Mariam
- 2023 Scientific contribution and the manufacture of evaluation: the case of highly cited researchers CHAIGNON Lauranne
- 2022 Pratiques de sobriété et zéro-déchets Solène Sarnowski
- 2019 Redo research. The valorization of public research at CNRS. BRUN Victoria
- 2015 The experimental production of urban mobility policies: innovation and governance of flows in Paris, Medellín, and San Francisco TALVARD Félix
- 2014 Faire valoir un patrimoine. Comment une école polytechnique investit la numérisation de la collection audiovisuelle d’un festival musical Alexandre Camus
- 2013 Maintenir la technologie aérosol et son industrie : une enquête sur les collectifs industriels (1958-2017) Mathieu Baudrin