Meeting with Alexandre Roulois, the new IT specialist at the lab, in charge of web and user support In addition to his great cheerfulness, Alexandre is the true jack of all trades that any lab could dream of: self-taught, he is capable of quickly gaining new skills, he adapts to requests, and is open to any new project. Passionate about IT, nothing stops him. But Alexandre is also an intellectual, a lover of literature and sports. Meet Alexandre Roulois, the new IT specialist at the lab, in charge of web and user support. “Today, I still don't quite know what it means to be an IT specialist at Irif; it can vary a lot, like setting up computers, providing support, dealing with hardware issues, but also what I used to do before, software and computer programs. My tasks will evolve and develop according to the needs of the lab.” How did you become an IT specialist and what does this job entail? This job encompasses so many different realities that it’s hard to summarize. My peers see the job of an IT specialist as someone who plays with their computer from morning to night, which, obviously, is not the case. For some people, being an IT specialist means fixing computers, but again, that’s not really our core work. I gradually became an IT specialist. I first started with web work, development, web applications, which for IT specialists isn’t really computer science. These are more methods to disseminate information on the Internet, using tools that were created by IT specialists. In my previous affiliation, I was truly an IT specialist because I developed software and computer programs, which allowed researchers to retrieve data, particularly with a lot of corpus integration, searching through vast datasets (to quickly retrieve information), and also doing statistics on this data, which involves math and modeling. Finally, I dabbled in artificial intelligence, to make predictions (for example, once a phenomenon is observed, how to draw a prediction, which is also data mining). However, I haven’t yet worked with neural networks. Today, I still don’t quite know what it means to be an IT specialist at Irif; it can vary a lot, like setting up computers, providing support, dealing with hardware issues, but also what I used to do before, software and computer programs. My tasks will evolve and develop according to the needs of the lab. Precisely, what do you offer at IRIF and what can the lab members achieve with your help? They can rely on me for support and IT assistance, to relieve them of a whole range of logistical problems. I can also create websites for colloquiums and conferences. Moreover, one of my strengths is that I am well-acquainted with the university environment, as I have connections with the University's IT Directorate (DSI), which facilitates interactions with the central services of the University. I am also quite familiar with the system of applications and software offered by the DSI. My skills are continuously evolving: for example, I am currently training in video production for seminars, as this is what the lab needs. I adapt and evolve according to the needs. Can you tell us about your journey? Did you encounter any difficulties? Originally, I am a humanities student, so I never studied computer science. I got my high school diploma in 1997, and at that time, the Internet was very new. Quickly, I wanted to undertake a personal project, which was to create an online publishing site. I jumped in without any knowledge of computer science and started coding with static HTML. I quickly realized that it was more difficult than I had imagined. I had to learn PHP, which was well beyond my skills. At the time, I didn’t understand logic; I didn’t know what it meant to create a loop or a condition, and I had never had any classes in logic or computer science. After completing my Master’s in Modern Literature in 2000, I moved to Paris where I started working as an editorial assistant for the website LeGuide.com, but I quickly grew bored. Meanwhile, I continued to train myself, albeit with difficulty, dedicating my evenings to understanding the workings of a database. I decided to return to studies, this time incorporating a small portion of computer science. I enrolled in a DUT Information and Corporate Documentation at the IUT of Tours, followed by an internship at CNRS with Stéphane Pouillot, at the Cité des Sciences in Paris. He introduced me to the basics and, while guiding me, also gave me a lot of freedom to learn on my own. This internship was extremely beneficial for me; I was supervised by computer scientists who encouraged me to experiment and test new technologies. It was in this context that I finally learned to create a loop, a condition, to extract data from a database, etc. It really allowed me to start and continue learning on my own, as a self-taught student. I then found a program in digital humanities at the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance in Tours, where I completed a Master’s degree in 2006 in Heritage and Electronic Publishing: we specifically learned how to combine the study of incunabula with online publishing, such as how to scan a historical document and perform optical character recognition. The technologies were still developing, and the school was partnered with INRIA and l’École des Chartes; this collaboration led to the invention of technologies for publishing books online. I found another internship at CNRS, and by then I had much better knowledge of computer science. Following that, I passed a competitive exam which I succeeded in on my first attempt; I joined the Institut d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et Techniques (IHPST) where I primarily worked on the web. Meanwhile, I continued to develop my computer science skills. I stayed there for a few years before moving to the Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle (LLF) through an internal transfer. The incumbent IT specialist, Clément Plancq, trained me in system administration (understanding a Linux environment, what servers are, the technology between servers, client machines, etc.). In this new environment, I was able to discover a new language, Python, and finally grasp what pure software programming is. I continuously learn and also do statistics for modeling. Twenty years ago, I would never have imagined being where I am now with the skills I have. Throughout my career, I faced many difficulties due to my gaps in knowledge; however, by joining CNRS, I truly felt this mission, even a duty, to help staff develop their skills, which I hadn't felt in the private sector. Where does this passion come from? When I was 15, I sensed that computing was going to become more powerful in society, even though I thought it would be more in the realm of entertainment. At the time, I thought that getting into computing would give me access to “fun” things. I had no idea that this was just a tiny part of what computing has to offer. I didn’t realize what computing contributes to research, which became clear to me when I joined the CNRS in my linguistics lab. Can you tell us about the courses you offer? What inspired you to start teaching? I started teaching at the Centre d’étude Supérieur de la Renaissance, where I completed my Master’s degree. When I joined this program, I was the only student with web skills and I got along well with the teaching staff. Since I was returning to my studies, I was also older than the other students and still professionally active (I had reduced working hours). The professor who taught our web courses left, and the school's administrative team asked me to replace him. This was 1 or 2 years after I had joined the CNRS. I didn’t feel entirely legitimate, knowing that I had never taught before, but I decided to give it a try. It went very well right from the start, I would even say it was a revelation, and since then, I have never stopped. Later, when I arrived at my linguistics lab, I was quickly asked to teach IT courses, particularly Python for linguists. Today, most of the courses I offer are at INALCO, in natural language processing, for master’s students. Every year, I need to reinvent myself to keep up with the rapid evolution of technology. I find this activity very fulfilling. And above all, the students bring a lot to me because I have to adapt to their current knowledge and their very diverse profiles: to enter INALCO, students must speak at least French, English, and an oriental language, which is very interesting from a computational linguistics perspective. It’s very stimulating—I spend each summer reviewing the programs, keeping up to date, and I love it. I’ve been doing this for 5 years now. I also used to teach some IT courses at the university, but I’m in the process of stopping those. You also have two passions that are quite different: writing and sports. Can you tell us more about these two hobbies? Regarding writing, I’ve somewhat stopped. I wrote quite a bit until I was 30. It was an opportunity for me to express what I thought and later, to reread what I was thinking at the time. In this way, I’ve been able to keep a record of my personal development. It breaks away from the stereotypical image of the geeky IT specialist, but I know many who are very creative, who make music, engage in visual arts, drawing, etc. And on the contrary, this creativity allows for reflection on algorithms and, conversely, it probably manifests in some way in artistic creation. I also do a lot of sports, practicing every day and in very diverse forms: I started quite young with running (I’ve been doing it for almost 30 years), which I still continue. I do cycling, swimming, and therefore triathlons. I’ve been practicing karate for over 20 years now. I’m actually a karate instructor at the university. I also practice a lot of combat sports, such as jiu-jitsu, judo, and I’ve done MMA. I also played volleyball for a long time, but unfortunately, I had to stop. It’s really the most damaging sport for the joints. Bonus Question: Where does your passion for turtles come from, and why these animals? (cf. Alexandre’s personal website) It’s actually an intellectual curiosity, because when I was young, I read that turtles are capable of living very long lives, often longer than humans. And in reality, scientists don’t actually know their true lifespan. I was impressed by the idea that life could have a horizon beyond the 85.3 years for women and 79.4 years for men 1). Ultimately, life could be infinite: if we look at trees, for example, aside from fires, fungi, and other factors, a tree can live indefinitely. One story that deeply moved me was that of George the tortoise, who was over 100 years old. Once his companion died, he began to wither away. I found it so beautiful to think that indeed, life needs companionship to persist and find joy. As a literature enthusiast, what are your favorite books? One of the books that has marked me the most is Salammbô by Flaubert, I read it in one day. What I particularly enjoyed was the love story between Mâtho and Salammbô, who have two very different conceptions of love. She is on the side of religion, with a love that has conditions, that of a priestess dedicated to offering her love to the faithful, while Mâtho, who is a savage, sees love from a carnal perspective, as a love of conquest. I also liked the description of Orientalism as well as Flaubert’s enchanting writing, with its settings and landscape descriptions. There is also a bit of voyeurism (which I can no longer tolerate today) in the detailed descriptions of barbaric customs; he aimed to shock the bourgeoisie. And finally, the combat scenes, which fascinated me immensely at 18. Another book is Le Cid by Corneille, which I reread at least once a year. It is really very funny. The role of women is limited to talking about men and wanting to please them. There is a scene that serves little purpose, only there to valorize the men, who fight and have “noble sentiments”; they don’t think about love but about “greater” things. It makes me laugh a lot considering today’s societal views on gender relations. And as it is a book I reread every year, I realize how much my perspective has also changed. Scenes that didn’t shock me before now disturb me. One realizes that we are embedded in a society at a given time. We are no longer necessarily who we were before, and this is not necessarily related to our age, but also to the environment in which we evolve. Today, I have gotten rid of all my books, which was a difficult decision. I now only use book boxes. I made this decision because I questioned my relationship with ownership and my attachment to material objects. 1) Data from INSEE: https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/3676610?sommaire=3696937