The virtual, the real, the physical, the biological and the digital are intertwined, as Gehan and Jean-François are hybridised to explore the digital transformation of society, cities and digital worlds.
Gehan KAMACHI
#Cyber-explorer #virtual-samurai #crazy-toad #teleporter
Gehan has been exploring cyberspace and the metaverses since 2007. He met Jean-François one day while conducting participant observation in Second Life. A digital nomad, Gehan roams according to the seasons in Horizon, Second Life, Minecraft, OpenSIM, Kaneva, Twinity…
A music lover, Gehan never travels without his faithful companion, Frog KAMACHI, his guitar, perched on his shoulder, endlessly humming sweet melodies to him.
Since 2009, Gehan has run this site. It was originally launched as a blog for Jean-François’s doctoral thesis: From Immersion to Inhabiting in Virtual Worlds: The Case of Cities in Second Life. Alongside Jean-François, he later launched the site “Villes numériques” between 2019 and 2023, to share their reflections and articles on so-called smart, connected, sustainable cities and territories… Due to lack of time, Villesnumeriques.org was closed at the end of 2023.
Gehan left twitter/X in September 2023.
His favorite website: http://perdu.com
« Gehan is a crazy toad, with the color of an irradiated anuran amphibian!«
Jean-François LUCAS
Jean-François LUCAS
#Digital-disco-ball #Imagination-architect-engineer #Marginal-secant #Geo-findout-what-he-can #Music-addict
Jean-François has been exploring and pioneering the digital transformations of the city and society for over 20 years.
Since november 2022, Jean-François is the General Manager of Renaissance Numérique, an independent think tank founded in 2005 dedicated to the digital transformation of society. As a nonprofit association, the think tank produces insights into the changes brought about by this transformation and works to empower everyone with the tools to master it.
Prior to joining Renaissance Numérique, Jean-François was Director of Smart Territories Expertise and Responsible Digital at Auxilia / Chronos (a consultancy with nonprofit status). He also worked for many years in the design and management of innovative research projects (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Télécom ParisTech), involving academic actors (in humanities, social sciences, and engineering), industry, public sector, and artists. For example, he was manager of the “Modeling Imaginaries, Innovation and Creation” Chair (MODIM), where he conducted theoretical and practical work on imaginaries and industrial innovation.
Jean-François has taught innovation and theories of the imaginary at Sciences Po and Strate School of Design, and regularly delivers guest lectures at universities, schools, or professional training programs. He regularly publishes articles in scientific and mainstream journals, and presents at numerous conferences and events.
When he’s not wearing headphones or blasting music from speakers, Jean-François shares what moves him in rap at http://rapenvrac.blogspot.com (unfortunately, less and less often these days…).
