The theories studied: an introduction
Semiology originated in 1970’s and is a unique and powerful method of understanding individual meaning of various media. It was initially intended for literature only, but has since been applied to media in general. The meanings are analysed by studying the signs such as text and images that media utilise. Semiotics is concerned with the question of how signs work. Signs have two main characteristics. Firstly, they have a physical form, called the signifier. This is something we perceive through for example, a road sign. Secondly, a sign is a concept that also refers to something other than itself and is known as the signified. For example, in reference to the road sign, we would maintain a speed limit of 30 miles per hour. This is often the meaning the signifier evokes in our minds when we perceive it.
Different kinds of signs
Signs are the basic tools of semiotics. It has been said by C.S.Pierce, one of the founders of semiotics, that...
"A sign...is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect..."
C.S.Peirce has suggested that signs can be split into three groups: icons, symbols and indexes.
Iconic signifiers resemble what signs signify and are often images. Icons are signs whose signifier bears a close resemblance to the thing they refer to. Symbolic signifiers are visual signs and are nearly always words. In contrast to an iconic signifier, there is no natural relationship between the sign and its meanings and therefore, between the signifier and the signified. Indexical signifiers are signs whose signifier we have learnt to associate with a particular signified. They are used to describe signifiers that act as a kind of evidence and are signs where the signifier has a logical relationship to the signified, for example, the smoke of a fire. Icons have a higher modality than indexes and symbols, where modality represents the degree to which the signifier resembles its signified. Modality also refers to the particular way in which the information is to be encoded for presentation to humans.
Denotation and connotation meanings
Semiotics emphasise that humans perceive reality to be constructed and shaped by the words and signs we use in various media and social contexts. Semiotics is often concerned with the question of how such signs work, what they denote and what they connote. Signs denote different aspects of an experience and represent the ordinary meaning of a sign, for example, red always denotes a certain part of the colour spectrum. The denotative relation is the relation between signs and objects. Signs also connote extra meanings from an individual’s memory or history. Red for example, connotes hot, danger and stop. The connotative relation is the relation between signs and their interpretant signs. Icons and indexes tend to be denotative, while symbols tend to be connotative, as they often remind you of something. The term myth is often used within the context of new media and is generally connotations that are culturally accepted and never questioned as to their existence.
Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships
Semiotics are used as an approach to textual analysis. However, they are not purely about analysing individual signs, but rather the way in which we perceive the signs. There are two important relationships between signs: syntagmatic and paradigmatic. A syntagmatic relationship is to do with the positioning and arrangement of signs, and the way they sit together to give them another meaning. Syntagmatic relationships come in two forms: synchronic, where signs appear at the same time, and diachronic, where signs appear and disappear. A paradigmatic relationship is to do with substitution of signs, where a sign may be replaced with another sign.
The way interaction contributes to meaning making (signification)
The audio-visual and verbal ‘languages’ or set of representations we have become used to, are worth studying as a major factor of the modern world. Semiotics is one of the ways to study how meaning is socially produced, whether through words, colour, gesture, music or fashion. Semiotic approaches are very much part of all media and can be defined as the study of signs, their meaning and how they come to have significance. There is great emphasis on the cultural or social agreement needed for meaning to be produced. Saussure (1857–1913) emphasised that signs only acquire meaning when they are interpreted in relation to each other. He believed that the relationship between the signifier and the signified was arbitrary.
In semiotics, the concept of a code is of fundamental importance. The term codes are often given to when we learn to read signs in relation to wider systems of meaning. Signs have meaning because of the codes they belong too. The contexts in which signs are interpreted belong to three types of code: social, textual and interpretive. Social codes often tend to be verbal and bodily codes. In a broad sense, all semiotic codes are social codes. Textual codes tend to be scientific and aesthetic codes, the way in which they appear. Finally, interpretive codes are for example perceptual and ideological codes, where there is less agreement about these semiotic codes. Interaction is discussed in more detail in the background research section.
Aesthetics of new media
Aesthetics represent the ways in which people interact with media, the pleasures that medium offers and the result they get from the interaction. Aesthetics provide physical environments in which meaning making can thrive. Users are more likely to become actively involved in the process of meaning making, providing the aesthetics are correct. Doug Church and Janet Murray individually identify aesthetics of interacting with a medium which together, can be identified as the following: agency, narrative potential, transformation, co-presence and presence. Agency is fundamental to the pleasure in which interacting with a medium offers and is a combination of intention and perceivable consequence. Narrative potential is how a media can tell the story of for example, an interactive digital environment. Transformation is how an interactive digital environment may change the person’s state of mind. Co-presence is a sense of being present with other users, which often is limited in media. Presence is a state of mind or an illusion that people are present in for example, the game they are playing. This aesthetic often changes over time, as in 1960’s, people felt present in the first interactive programming game ‘Eliza’, but today, people might only feel present in a virtual reality environment. Some authors argue that all types of media such as a film or a novel create a sense of presence in another world.
Computer based signs
Peter Bogh Anderson’s theory of computer based signs identifies four properties: Firstly, permanence: a sign that is recognised throughout its existence. Secondly, transience: a sign that remains the same even though it may change its appearance. Handling: this refers to the user’s ability to control the sign and finally action, which is a sign’s ability to cause change to other signs without the participation of other signs. Anderson’s theory also identifies common components of interactive digital environments that include actor, object, layout etc. These are identified in the section ‘a new media future’.
Perceptual opportunities
Perceptual opportunities is a theory highly relevant to this project. Perceptual modelling consists of attributes of objects that may occur within a virtual environment and models the intended users’ experience. The model is a mapping of perceptual opportunities which focuses on the aesthetic design of the users’ experiences that they are intended to accumulate. This process can be thought of as actions that people perform based on an attraction. They also form intentions of a perceivable consequence, where individuals expect a reward for their actions.
Perceptual opportunities can be broken down into three principle forms: sureties, surprises and shocks. Sureties deliver belief in the environment and allow us to make predictions about the environment. Surprises are designed to deliver the purpose of the virtual environment by allowing users to gather conscious experiences from which a sequence of events can be constructed. Shocks are not part of the perceptual opportunity, as they are not expected in the user’s experience of the virtual environment, which therefore undermines their presence. There are three types of surprises: attractors, which may attract the user to an object, connectors, which help the user focus on their intended outcome, and finally rewards, which are given to the user for their efforts at interaction.