Semiotics

What is semiotics? The shortest definition is that it is the study of signs. We seem as a species to be driven by a desire to make meanings: above all, we are surely Homo significans - meaning- makers. Distinctively, we make meanings through our creation and interpretation of 'signs'. desire to make meanings

Main Points

Theoretical Semiotics is concerned with the different forms and conformations given to the means through which humankind believe itself to have access to the world. It tries to emulate the point of view of humankind itself (and of its different fractions), but it must also go beyond it, to explain the workings of such operative knowledge which underlies the behavior constitutive of any system of signification.

Practical An icon is a sign which is based on similarity; or, more strictly, a sign consisting of an expression which stands for a content because of properties which each of them possess intrinsically. Given this definition, we realize that there may even be visual, iconic signs which are not pictures.

Main People *Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure ( ), a founder not only of linguistics but also of what is now more usually referred to as semiotics. Saussure offered a 'dyadic' or two-part model of the sign. He defined a sign as being composed of: a 'signifier' (signifiant) - the form which the sign takes; and the 'signified' (signifié) - the concept it represents.Ferdinand de Saussure

*David Lidov’s main objective is to "track the principles which lead from simple to elaborate signs". Sign use -- or semiosis -- for Lidov "pertains to consciousness exclusively", which "is a scramble".

How Does This Relate to Instructional Design in General?

Specific Ways that Semiotics should be incorporated into the Dick and Carey model

Specific Ways to Incorporate Semiotics in the Dick and Carey Model (Which Steps and How?) 1. Identify Instructional Goals: The Importance and Use of Signs in Our Daily Lives 2. Instructional Strategies: Use visuals and categorize by safety and daily routine (whole group) then small groups work together to present information to large group on how we use these signs in our daily lives. 3. Summative Evaluation: A driver’s license exam

5 websites

5 Books from USA Library A.J. Greimas and the nature of meaning : linguistics, semiotics, and discourse theory / Ronald Schleifer. Alice doesn't : feminism, semiotics, cinema / Teresa de Lauretis. Charles S. Peirce's method of methods / by Roberta Kevelson Circus and culture : a semiotic approach / Paul Bouissac. Contributions to the doctrine of signs / by Thomas A. Sebeok. A.J. Greimas and the nature of meaning : linguistics, semiotics, and discourse theory /