Presents " .... his radical claims that reality has been replaced by the simulated world of images and events ranging from TV news to Disneyland. It provides a clear account of Baudrillard's work on obesity, pornography and terrorism and traces his development from critic of mass consumption to prophet of the apocalypse."

BASICS OF SEMIOTICS, John Deely, ISBN 0253205689, Indiana University Press

"Deely's book, the only successful modern English introduction to semiotics, is a clear, creative and provocative synthesis of major trends, past and present."

THE SOCIAL SEMIOTICS OF MASS COMMUNICATION, Klaus Bruhn Jensen, ISBN 0803978103, Sage

"This book offers a broad-ranging, innovative framework for understanding the key role of the mass media in the social production of meaning." This is obviously a more academic presentation, but worthwhile to the interested researcher.

ERIC ABSTRACTS

TITLE: Visual Literacy in Education--a Semiotic Perspective.

AUTHOR: Bopry, Jeanette

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1994

JOURNAL_CITATION: Journal of Visual Literacy; v14 n1 p35-49 Spr 1994

ABSTRACT: Discusses concepts of semiotics relevant to visual literacy and stresses two important points of intersection:

active perception and diversity of sign systems. Argues that an educational program with a semiotic framework would

change its focus from content to process, and that a visual literacy component would enhance learning across modalities,

fulfilling a political and social responsibility to students. (PEN)

TITLE: Teaching Visual Literacy for the 21st Century.

AUTHOR: Glasgow, Jacqueline N.

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1994

JOURNAL_CITATION: Journal of Reading; v37 n6 p494-500 Mar 1994

ABSTRACT: Discusses teaching visual literacy by teaching students how to decode advertising images, thus enabling them

to move away from being passive receivers of messages to active unravelers. Shows how teachers can use concepts from

semiotics to deconstruct advertising messages. (SR)

===

TITLE: What Every Teacher Should Know about Semiotics.

AUTHOR: Cunningham, Donald J.

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1984

ABSTRACT: Semiotics is the science of signs and the structures of signs within which meanings emerge. The process

through which these sign structures are built up is called semiosis. Courses commonly taught as foundational to teacher

trainers should be imbued with a specific semiotic emphasis. At a general level, teachers may be introduced to the notion of

signs and the process of semiosis, and be sensitized to the structures and codes of experience which both they and their

students are building as they operate in the world. Thus, the interconnectedness of the concepts taught in foundational

courses may be recognized and clarified. This view directs the attention of teachers away from teaching specific bits of

knowledge and focuses upon the cultivation of higher intellectual skills. While semiotics is not the only view which leads to

this conclusion, it, unlike some others, provides some conceptual tools for analyzing these skills and provides insights into

ways in which these skills may be nurtured. (JD)

===

TITLE: Eyes on the Future: Converging Images, Ideas, and Instruction. Selected Readings from the Annual Conference of

the International Visual Literacy Association (27th, Chicago, Illinois October 18-22, 1995).

AUTHOR: Griffin, Robert E., Ed.; And Others

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1996

ABSTRACT: This document contains 47 selected papers from the 1995 International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA)

conference. Topics include: the cultural significance of tombstone iconography; the predicted impact of multimedia on

education and entertainment; the effects of digital imaging on the art of photography; visual representation of the structure of

the Internet; the semiotics of World Wide Web homepage icons; anthropomorphizing the user interface; graphic organizers

for teaching literacy strategies to at-risk students; visual aids in food safety education; visually translating educational

materials for ethnic populations; visual representations of student assessment; the impact of cover art in young adult books;

effects of computer visual appeal on motivation in learning; design issues in instructional virtual environments; the

aesthetic-emotional response to media at odds with principles of critical viewing; impact of cognitive aspects of

human-computer interaction on application design; visual aids and elementary creative writing; women in cyberspace;

educational holograms; image maps on the World Wide Web; lessons learned in the development of an interactive

multimedia CD-ROM; adaptation of a visual readability instrument to multimedia materials; instruction with digital

photography; and electronic performance support systems; what teachers should know to teach students to author

hypermedia; formative evaluation and World Wide Web hypermedia; computer animation in the English as a Foreign

Language (EFL) learning environments; and using visuals to develop a reading vocabulary. (BEW)

===

TITLE: The Concept of Subject in a Semiotic Light.

AUTHOR: Mai, Jens-Erik

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1997

JOURNAL_CITATION: Proceedings of the ASIS Annual Meeting; v34 p54-64 1997

ABSTRACT: Analyzes key problems associated with representation of the intellectual content of digital objects. Presents

a framework for analysis based on Peirce's notion of unlimited semiosis. This analysis is based on the assumption that every

element in the subject indexing process could be regarded a sign. (AEF)

ERIC_NO: EJ546197

TITLE: Cognitive Issues in the Design and Deployment of Interactive Hypermedia: Implications for Authoring WWW Sites.

AUTHOR: Ebersole, Samuel

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1997

JOURNAL_CITATION: Interpersonal Computing and Technology; v5 n1-2 p19-36 Apr 1997

ABSTRACT: In designing effective interactive media, cognitive psychology, human factors, psycholinguistics, semiotics,

and communication theory should be considered. This article defines interactive media, considers interactive hypermedia

design and the cognitive processes of designer and user, and examines the World Wide Web and Netscape Navigator, a

popular Web browser. (42 references) (PEN)

DESCRIPTORS: *Cognitive Processes; Cognitive Psychology; Communication (Thought Transfer); *Computer Software

Development; Designers; Human Factors Engineering; *Hypermedia; *Online Systems; Psycholinguistics; Semiotics; Users

(Information); World Wide Web

ERIC_NO: EJ565029

TITLE: HyperRhetoric: Multimedia, Literacy, and the Future of Composition.

AUTHOR: Heba, Gary

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1997

JOURNAL_CITATION: Computers and Composition; v14 n1 p19-44 Apr 1997

ABSTRACT: Notes that literacy today involves more than the three R's. Uses a semiotic approach to present a rhetorical

model of multimedia communication and its elements. Includes an analysis of the multimedia composition process and its

rhetorical features. (RS)

===

ERIC_NO: ED391497

TITLE: Adaptation of a Visual Readability Instrument to Multimedia Format.

AUTHOR: Vrasidas, Charalambos; Lantz, Chris

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1995

ABSTRACT: This paper describes a study in which a Picture Readability Index (PRI) was used to investigate initial and

extended perceptions of photographs. Readability criteria for evaluating instructional text seems to have been in place for a

long time, yet instructional visuals like photographs and illustrations have typically been subject to no such criteria. The PRI,

developed from research in the areas of semiotics, linguistics, perception, visual literacy, and cognitive psychology, seeks to

apply measurable readability criteria to these visuals. It considers first impressions gained from brief exposure, and also

examines how a picture and caption are processed together during prolonged exposure. Data is coded and entered onto a

nomograph for comparison between affective and cognitive domain classifications. The paper-and-pencil version of the PRI

test, that was administered to a small group of students, however, is somewhat limited by its length and complexity, which

may cause fatigue to have an influence on responses. Thus researchers set out to adapt the PRI test for the computer;

besides eliminating the fatigue factor, the computer-assisted version would also organize data and simplify the process of

projecting the image for viewing by the respondent. Adapting the PRI test into a computer-administered format involved

selecting an authoring tool, flowcharting to modularize the instrument, storyboarding, scanning in photographs and drawings,

creating test questions, and constructing and revising the multimedia prototype. Future study may include a

computerized-adaptive version of the PRI, in which the progression of questions on the monitor will depend on prior

responses. (Contains 27 references.) (BEW)

===

ERIC_NO: EJ520168

TITLE: Toward an Understanding of Media Psychology.

AUTHOR: Luskin, Bernard J.

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1996

JOURNAL_CITATION: T.H.E. Journal; v23 n7 p82-84 Feb 1996

ABSTRACT: Considers the psychology of multimedia. Topics include software development, including decisions about

sound and image quality; theories of multiple intelligences; the psychology of learning; a model that includes semantics,

semiotics, and synthetics; and the impact of media psychology on the use of multimedia for learning. (LRW)

ERIC_NO: ED377530

TITLE: After Words: A Rhetoric of Multimedia Communication.

AUTHOR: Heba, Gary

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1994

ABSTRACT: Although many dimensions of multimedia are already familiar to technical communicators and educators,

producing documents with this technology requires a complete reconceptualization of the communication process. One

major obstacle to developing a multimedia rhetoric is the power that print technology holds over people's ideas concerning

formal or "official" information. The model of written communication that still dominates writing instruction courses is

centered on text, with the writer, reader, and subject matter interacting through text. From a semiotic perspective,

nonwritten media communicate through intricate systems of formal codes which are analogous to literacies. A suggested

model of multimedia communication decenters the primacy of print in favor of a more democratic view of the

communication environment as one that is made up of many sources and many media. Elements of the model are the

developer, the user, the context/purpose, and the communication environment. Elements of the communication environment

include the platform/interface, presentation environment, print information, visual information, tactile information,

cultural/historical information, and audio information. The idea of a multimedia rhetoric involves ongoing negotiation and

interpretation at all levels of design and production. Researching methods of making multimedia the most transparent

technology possible is a good investment in the future of the information highway. (Two figures are included.) (RS)

ERIC_NO: ED215299

TITLE: Reading in a Semiotics-Based Curriculum.

AUTHOR: Suhor, Charles

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1982

ABSTRACT: Semiotics, the study of signs of all kinds, can be subdivided into (1) semantics, dealing with the meanings of

signs and systems of signs; (2) pragmatics, dealing with inferential meaning; and (3) syntactics, dealing with the structure and

systems of signs. As such, semiotics provides a useful framework for conceptualizing curriculum. Such a model can be

thought of as psychological, referring to the production of messages by individuals; or it can be viewed as a prescriptive

prototype for generating communication in a classroom. The model begins with an "experiential store" within each human

being--a store of concepts, affects, and experiences that is indeterminate, undifferentiated, and unsymbolized. These

experiences can be encoded by alternative signs or sign systems using media alternatives labeled as linguistic (oral and

written), gestural (e.g., body language, mime, dance), pictorial (e.g., painting, photography), and musical (instrumental or

vocal). Using the model, a student's film interpretation of a work by John Steinbeck might involve linguistic skills (discussion,

scripting), a strong sense of narrative, visual imagination and pictorial production (story board), constructive skills (building a

set), knowledge about and physical manipulation of media hardware, and the manual dexterity and conceptual skills required

in film editing. Such a semiotic model embraces cognitive, aesthetic, and psychomotor skills. (A semiotics-based

curriculum model is included.) (HOD)

===

ERIC_NO: ED243463

TITLE: Optimal Structures for Multimedia Instruction. Annual Technical Report.

AUTHOR: Goguen, Joseph; Linde, Charlotte

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1984

ABSTRACT: A 2-year study of optimal structures for multimedia instruction is being conducted to provide

experimentally validated guidelines for the design of computer-based instruction generation systems and for human instruction

in a multimedia setting. In order to obtain for analysis a significant range of the possible discourse structures that occur in

instruction, the project's first phase elicited explanations of a demonstration device from experienced community college

engineering instructors. The outcome of this phase was a set of variables and a set of hypotheses about relationships among

variables that lead to effective instruction. The project's second phase will test these hypotheses on groups of students. Four

major results were achieved in the first phase: (1) the development of a framework for discussing optimal discourse

structures and/or visual presentations in multimedia instruction, based on the notion of a mapping between semiotic

systems; (2) the discovery that the command and control speech act chain is used in "hands-on" instruction; (3) the

development of a rich set of experimental hypotheses; and (4) a demonstration of the viability of a methodology combining

linguistic analysis with experimental research. This report describes the first year's work, with sections on discourse analysis,

semiotics, other analytic concepts, and project variables and hypotheses. Also presented are appendices on project

methodology and the grammar of the command and control speech act chain, a 34-item bibliography, and a report

distribution list. (ESR)

ERIC_NO: ED415569

TITLE: Toward a Theory of Visual Presentation.

AUTHOR: Burke, Ken

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1997

ABSTRACT: Communication is a multi-faceted discipline which has often neglected the study of images as spatial, stylistic

experiences in favor of exploring the social impact of their contents. This essay offers an addition to the traditional emphases

of communication by building on the concepts of framing (perspectives on how meaning is created) and depictions of visual

space as means of situating the impact and appeal of imagery. A spectrum of deeper ("window") to flatter ("frame" or

"border") presentation modes is explored for several visual media, noting a conceptual heritage in classic film theory and

differences from the recent academic focus on semiotic-ideological perspectives. Then a brief history of Western imagery

from the Renaissance to the present is presented for painting, photography, cinema, video, multi-image projections, and

computer multimedia. Encouragement is given to understand and incorporate into communication study the visual

implications of "Classic" and "Special Case" windows and frames. How the full range of communication scholars choose to

incorporate the study of visuals throughout the discipline--both in form and content--will help determine the future history

and validity of a multi-faceted field. Contains 24 notes and 76 references. (Author/NKA)

ERIC_NO: EJ555800

TITLE: Media Education and Information Literacy: Are We Missing Most of the Real Lessons?

AUTHOR: Duncan, Barry

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1997

JOURNAL_CITATION: School Libraries in Canada; v17 n2 p3-5 Spr 1997

ABSTRACT: Discusses cultural issues and implications of media education and information literacy. Presents examples

of the social impact of new technologies. Outlines insights from research on audience research on the effects of media. Lists

Les Browns' the "Seven Deadly Sins of the Digital Age." (AEF)

ERIC_NO: EJ581511

TITLE: Educating the Net Generation.

AUTHOR: Tapscott, Don

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1999

JOURNAL_CITATION: Educational Leadership; v56 n5 p6-11 Feb 1999

************************

ABSTRACT: The ultimate learning environment is the Internet itself. Digital media are helping educators and students

shift from linear to hypermedia learning; from instruction to construction and discovery; from teacher- to learner-centered

education; from absorbing to synthesizing material; and from school-time to customized lifelong learning. (MLH)

ERIC_NO: EJ573977

TITLE: An Investigation of the Perceived Quality of Digital Media: Research and Research Design Issues.

AUTHOR: Schwier, Richard A.; Misanchuk, Earl R.

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1997

JOURNAL_CITATION: Canadian Journal of Educational Communication; v26 n2 p87-106 Sum 1997

ABSTRACT: Reports on three experiments that tested the perceived quality of digital images, and discusses issues about

conducting research into questions about technical quality in multimedia. Issues regarding conducting this type of research

include contextualization versus decontextualization, selection of variables and their values, and presentation protocol.

(Author/LRW)

===

ERIC_NO: ED429779

TITLE: Digital Audio/Video for Computer- and Web-Based Instruction for Training Rural Special Education Personnel.

AUTHOR: Ludlow, Barbara L.; Foshay, John B.; Duff, Michael C.

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1999

ABSTRACT: Video presentations of teaching episodes in home, school, and community settings and audio recordings of

parents' and professionals' views can be important adjuncts to personnel preparation in special education. This paper

describes instructional applications of digital media and outlines steps in producing audio and video segments. Digital

audio and video are readily incorporated into instruction via live presentation in person or on television, via computer

instruction through interactive multimedia modules, or via Web courses with materials provided for distributed or distance

learning. Hardware and software needs are described for use of digital media in live presentations, computer instruction,

and Web courses. The first step in producing audio and video media for instruction is selecting equipment that best fits the

instructor's development capabilities, instructional goals, and equipment budget. Camera equipment, camera accessories,

computer equipment, and production software are described with approximate costs. The next steps in producing audio and

video media for instruction involve carefully planning, recording, editing, and compressing media segments to ensure that

they contain high quality images and sounds and accurately represent the content. Tips and suggestions are offered for each

of these steps. The final production step is using software to incorporate the media files into a particular application: live

presentation, computer instruction, or Web course. Contains 38 references. (SV)

ERIC_NO: ED366954

TITLE: Constructing Meaning in the Disciplines: Reconceptualizing Writing across the Curriculum as Composing across the

Curriculum.

AUTHOR: Smagorinsky, Peter

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1994

ABSTRACT: To analyze the appropriateness of textual media in the construction of meaning, this paper first provides a

review of the psychological research on semiotics and multiple intelligences that supports a broadened notion of text. The

paper next reports on preliminary research on the construction of non-print texts in disciplines other than English/Language

Arts. The paper next reviews studies on the production of non-written texts in English/Language Arts classes. The paper

argues that this research, taken together, suggests that an exclusive focus on writing as a mode of learning is limiting, rather

than enabling, to students in their efforts to construct meaning across the curriculum; that other composing processes are

more appropriate to the construction of meaning in other disciplines; and that students would benefit from having more

flexibility in the media through which they express and develop their understanding of conceptual knowledge. (Contains 38

references.) (RS)

===

ERIC_NO: EJ588232

TITLE: Explaining School Science in Book and CD-ROM Formats: Using Semiotic Analyses To Compare the Textual

Construction of Knowledge.

AUTHOR: Unsworth, Len

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1999

JOURNAL_CITATION: International Journal of Instructional Media; v26 n2 p159-79 1999

ABSTRACT: Discussion of how the nature and use of visual and verbal meaning-making systems vary across formats.

Focuses on a comparative study of CD-ROMs and printed books dealing with scientific concepts in upper primary grades.

Topics include linguistic and visual semiosis; the use of images; and meanings in images. (Author/LRW)

===

ERIC_NO: EJ546197

TITLE: Cognitive Issues in the Design and Deployment of Interactive Hypermedia: Implications for Authoring WWW Sites.

AUTHOR: Ebersole, Samuel

PUBLICATION_DATE: 1997

JOURNAL_CITATION: Interpersonal Computing and Technology; v5 n1-2 p19-36 Apr 1997

ABSTRACT: In designing effective interactive media, cognitive psychology, human factors, psycholinguistics, semiotics,

and communication theory should be considered. This article defines interactive media, considers interactive hypermedia

design and the cognitive processes of designer and user, and examines the World Wide Web and Netscape Navigator, a

popular Web browser. (42 references) (PEN)

===

Cyberspace exists in a field of mixed metaphors, of spiders and webs, virtual cows MOOing, flames

without fires, and cyberjockeys "jacked into the matrix" (Gibson, Neuromancer).

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/education/jlemke/papers/mxm-syd.htm

1.Virtual States: the Internet and the

Boundaries of the Nation-State

Jerry Everard

Published by Routledge (search the catalogue) 2000

Paperback

ISBN/ISSN: 0-415-17214-4, Price: US $25.99, UK £16.99

Virtual States analyses the role of the state in a globalising, wired

society controversially arguing that a wired society will not, as some

commentators claim, mean the end of the nation state as we know it.

The book begins by giving a much-needed brief history of the Internet

and goes on to address issues of real contemporary concern such as

Internet censorship. Within this context, Everard argues that while

information technology poses fundamental challenges to the basic

processes of state-making, this will not mean the decline but rather the

mutation of the state. Everard goes on to look at the different ways in

which states react to the wired society in the developing and developed

worlds and the impact of these reactions on those excluded from this

society.

ERIC_NO: EJ351165
TITLE: Text and Technology: Reading and Writing in the Electronic Age.
AUTHOR: Bolter, Jay David
PUBLICATION_DATE: 1987
JOURNAL_CITATION: Library Resources and Technical Services; v31 n1 p12-23 Jan-Mar 1987
ABSTRACT: Discusses the importance of the computer in the history of literacy and proposes that electronic technology will foster change in both the structure and symbolic character of writing. Writing as technology, the structure of electronic text, computer symbols, the spatial character of writing, and writing and speaking are considered. (EM)
DESCRIPTORS: Change; Computer Graphics; *Computers; Electronic Publishing; *History; Information Technology; *Literacy; Reading; Space; Symbolism; *Technological Advancement; *Verbal Communication; Writing (Composition); *Written Language
PUBLICATION_TYPE: 080; 060; 120; 150
CLEARINGHOUSE_NO: IR516463
AUDIENCE: Media Staff; Practitioners
LANGUAGE: English