UM The University of Montpellier Committed to More Responsible Digital Practices
From March 4 to 11, the first edition ofUM, a week-long event to raise awareness about the environmental footprint of digital technology, took place at the University of Montpellier.
Throughout the week, students and staff had the opportunity to participate in several events aimed at fostering a better understanding of the environmental challenges posed by digital technology. Highlights included workshops organized by La Fresque du Numérique to explore the global impact of digital technology, and a lecture on artificial intelligence and the ecological transition given by Michel Robert, director of CINES. And finally, to engage all staff in a fun way, an “inbox cleanup” challenge was organized by the Department of Information and Digital Services (DSIN). The goal was to free up as much space as possible in participants’ email inboxes.
The challenge attracted more than 1,200 participants, representing more than 8% of all UM email account holders. It freed up 1 TB of the 44 TB currently occupied by staff email. The three winners freed up as much as 90% of their email storage space and were notified of their victory.
In addition to these initiatives, the DSIN offered personalized assistance to help students clean up their email inboxes over the course of a day and provided various educational resources to explore the topic in greater depth: podcasts, videos, and infographics available online on the University’s website. These resources remain available on the Responsible Digital Use page to encourage more sustainable practices and provide the community with a platform for reliable information on environmental and ethical issues related to digital technology.