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International audience; The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been popularized in France by Jean Heidman and François Biraud since 1980. To increase public interest in SETI, a French version of the SETI League website has been created in 1995. In 1999 the SETI@Home website was the second one in French. Amateurs need help in their native language to build antennas, use software or access open data. Web2.0 technologies and social networking have changed the way people find information about SETI. Ten years of statistics of a blog in French about SETI, Space and education have been analysed. Even if translation tools are widely used, some journalists or students won't read a scientific paper, a web page or even a tweet in English. Statistics show the need for translation and adaptation with the appropriate vocabulary. Outreach public events, popular books or scientific workshops about the search for biological or technological signatures have been organized in France during last decade. None of them use the SETI acronym even if the main question remains "Are we alone?". The French vocabulary used in the titles of those events shows that translating SETI into French presents a social aspect.

Within 20 years SETI has changed the citizen involvement in scientific research.The SETI@HOME BOINC project has 1,679,158 users today. Most of them are passive. They just share their computer. A few users created statistic tools. Other manage websites and forums with technical or scientific exchanges. The SETI League launched the Argus project the 21th of April 1996. Hundreds of amateurs around the world have downloaded a technical manual to build a station. Earthlings everywhere became active participants in projects such as Planet Hunters or SETI Lives. With SETI@IBMCloud or SETI Code Challenge, the SETI Institute asks the users to write the code.Amateur and professional SETI enthusiasts spend time explaining what is a scientific method and why we need it to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The “are we alone” question is a motivation for people to learn languages, computing, radio-astronomy, mathematics, biology, chemistry or astrophysics. More than 6,000 entries – from 146 countries – were received in the 2016 Breakthrough Junior Challenge. In a 2009 TED talk Jill Tarted said “If SETI does nothing but change the perspective of humans on this planet, then it will be one of the most profound endeavours in history.”Each citizen participating in a SETI Project learns how to work with scientists. His scientific and technical knowledge improves according to his involvement. Even if we are alone in the universe, SETI is a non-zero-sum game.

National audience; Chronologie de la recherche de signatures technologiques de 1959 à 2001