Semiotics is the study of signs (not your normal street signs) Semiotics is the study of signs (not your normal street signs). It’s a way of looking at the world based on the idea that everything we experience is actively constructed by us. That there is no information just sitting there, but that we make information by the way we interpret and read “signs”. Thinking about semiotics is useful for those of us conducting design research because it takes us back to basics. It makes us stop, look, listen, deconstruct and reconnect everything that we see and experience while doing research. Semiotics

Interaction Engineering Building systems is a team effort. The central role of the system is communication in and out Understanding the needs of the customer, the end user, and the developer is the mission. Some design problems are best solved with a good understanding of the underlying engineering of communication.

Semiotics the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. study of meaning-making, the study of sign processes and meaningful communication.

History of Semiotics The importance of signs and significances has been recognised throughout much of history of philosophy, and also in psychology. Plato and Aristotle both explored relationships between signs and the world, these theories have had a great impact throughout western philosophy, especially throughout scholastic philosophy. More recently Umberto Eco, in his book semiotics and the philosophy of language, has argued that the work of most semiotic theories are implied in the work of most and all major thinkers throughout the world.

Structuralists Charles Sanders Peirce Ferdinand de Saussure Linguist (French) 1857 –1913 Charles Sanders Peirce Mathematician (American) 1839 –1914 Claude Levi-Strauss Anthropologist (French) 1908 - Brief History Ferdinand Mongin de Sassure (old French guy- linguist) Charles Sanders Pierce (old American guy – mathematician) Claude Levi Strauss (still a very old French Anthropologist) Mr Strauss was my first contact with the idea of semiotics and structuralism when I was studying anthropology at uni. These guys were structuralists, which basically means they thought everything made by humans existed or was conceived within a web of other things. Structuralists

Semiotics: The study of signs and meanings Key figure in the study of language Work inspired ideas of later writers in film theory, cultural studies and media studies Important contribution – recognition of the nature of language as a relational system of signs Ferdinand de Saussure 1857 – 1913 Swiss Linguist

Components of the sign signification signifier signified A sign of a guinea pig Sign - physical existence (marks on paper, sounds in air, pixels on screen etc.) – anything which is meaningful to someone Signifier – sensory perception of sign (form) Signified – concept/meaning evoked by the sign (content)

Signs, signifiers and signified Sign - physical existence Signifier – sensory perception of sign (form) Signified – concept/meaning evoked by the sign (content)

Semiotics The study of signs, representation (simulation/metaph or), codes, and emergent ideologies. This provides a model of understanding of the meaning of a cultural artifact or event.

Study of signs It covers indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor and symbolism. Semiotics is closely related to the field of linguistics, in which the structure and meaning of languages is studied. Semiotics is broken down into three different branches: Semantics: This is relation between signs and what they refer to, their dentate, what they mean Syntactic: relations between signs in formal structure Pragmatics: relation between sign and their effects Semiotics is know for having important anthropological dimensions, Umberto Eco proposes that every cultural phenomenon can be studied as communication.

Signified Signifier So what is a sign? Signs - in the semiotic sense - are comprised of two bits, the signified (which is the actual idea or concept being discussed, and this can be anything) and the signifier (the thing that points to the signified).

Signs Signifier: any material thing that signifies, e.g., words on a page, a facial expression, an image. Signified: the concept that a signifier refers to. Together, the signifier and signified make up the Sign: the smallest unit of meaning. Anything that can be used to communicate (or to tell a lie).

Sign

gau hund Inu canis DOG e.g This word DOG represents the idea of an animal the letters used are arbitrary but our shared cultural understanding means that most of us in the room know what is meant when we see those three letters.

Models for understanding language Language is CONSTRUCTED by people to produce meanings within their culture It is only when we name objects and events that they are given meaning and definition The social contract of language means that we agree to use the same language as everyone else so they understand us. We can however play with the language of our society through signs, codes and patterns as well as words.

Attendance for 8/16 I will assign A’s and B’s to each of you. Do the following in the next 5 minutes: Person A – create directions to your favorite restaurant with only 10-15 words. Person B – create directions to fold a piece of paper into an paper airplane with only 10-15 words. Please meet another student and exchange directions. Separately look at the given directions and notice your: Initial impression - What did you see? Representations? Unknown? Communicate with the other student your impressions. Hand in the directions and the analysis with your names to the front of the classroom.