1 Project-Final part 75pt-due Dec 1 in classWhat do you see? Project-Final part 75pt-due Dec 1 in class Semiotics: The critical analysis of the Designer’s Deputy SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

2 Download thunderbird https://www.mozilla.org/en- US/thunderbird/Server name for incoming is: .kennesaw.edu Outgoing server (SMTP) is: Zmta1.kennesaw.edu User name is your without the students.kennesaw.edu SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

3 Part A - Specify which functionalities of the software you are focus on. Call these your tasks with artifacts.  For each designed interfaced task artifact give: a.  Name b.  multiple representations of the artifact c.  discussion of the communication d.  complete scenario SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

4 Part C - for the following slides – Part B - Give the interaction dialogue with screen shots for your tasks.  Include the designer's message at every stage. This is the same as your did in the “start” so please include: Norman’s 7 states of cognition 1. Goal 2. Intention 3 and 4. Specify and execute the Action 5. Perceive the system state (Here I want you to use the *tags* on next slide. 6. Interpret the system state 7. Evaluate the system state with respect to the goals and intentions Give a table with the raw data of screens, intent/thoughts/comments, and actions for your accomplishment of Task 1, 2, and 3. Review the boxes on pages 116 – 121 and provide an illustrated narrative of your interaction besides the raw data. Please include your “utterances” as you perform the task. After the interaction – give the categorization of the communicability (specifically any failures) Part C - for the following slides – Analyze at least 6 of these “concepts” using Thunderbird interface and report using the Slide #. SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

5 The messages of communicationRather than simply assuming that any message is simply sent out from the producer (sender) and transparently received by the receiver (reader), the approach called semiotics firmly centers on understanding how messages (in our case media messages) create meaning. So my ‘research question’ is: How does this ‘app’ create meaning? Questions about ‘the mail app’? (represen-tation, narrative, genre) Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed. In the language of semiotics we share the same codes. The more we share the same codes, the more we share the same sign systems, the closer the two meanings of the message are i.e. the message as intended and the message as understood. SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

6 Focus on the message as consisting of a structured relationship of elements that together create meaning. Messages as ‘structured relationships of elements’ Semiotics: the study of these elements and structured relationships. The study of signs and how they create meaning. What is it that makes colors, areas, images, etc. (in this example) into something that makes meaning? SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

7 Semiotics the study of signs and meanings“It is … possible to conceive of a science which studies the role of signs as part of social life. It would form part of social psychology, and hence of general psychology. We shall call it semiology (from Greek semeion, ‘sign’). It would investigate the nature of signs and the laws governing them. Since it does not yet exist, one cannot say for certain that it will exist. But it has the right to exist, a place ready for it in advance. “ Key figure in the study of language Important contribution – recognition of the nature of language as a relational system of signs Ferdinand de Saussure 1857 – 1913 Swiss Linguist SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

8 Components of the sign signification signifier signifiedA 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) SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

9 Signs, signifiers and signifiedssignification Does this mean anything to you? Sign - physical existence Signifier – sensory perception of sign (form) Signified – concept/meaning evoked by the sign (content) SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

10 Signs, signifiers and signifiedssignification Sign - physical existence - The sign is something you can touch, see or hear, smell or taste. It has a material nature. Signifier – sensory perception of sign (form) - The signifier is the sensory impression of the sign. The mental image of the words, picture, video inside your mind. Signified – concept/meaning evoked by the sign (content)- The signified is the concept/meaning that the sign invokes. (e.g. ‘guineapigness’ or Englishness etc.). It will be broadly similar to all people in a culture sharing the same language. SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

11 Codes The systems in which signs are organized into groups are called codes Codes organise signs into meaningful systems which correlate the signifier and the signified. SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

12 Visual example Codes organise signs into meaningful systems which correlate signifiers and signifieds. (Chandler 2002:147) SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

13 Visual example Codes organise signs into meaningful systems which correlate signifiers and signifieds. (Chandler 2002:147) SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

14 Visual example Codes organise signs into meaningful systems which correlate signifiers and signifieds. (Chandler 2002:147) SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

15 STRUCTURALISM StructuralismThe structuralist’s said that things “signs” only make sense when put in the context of other things – so the word DOG, by itself might signify a particular object but it’s not until you put it in with other signs that you can make any sense of it. They believe that it is the relationship between the signs that made a difference. Using this thinking, means that any collection of signs can be read and analysed like a text. And because signs represent anything we can see or conceive that means we can “read” anything. That’s pretty interesting, because it means everything you see when you are doing research, be it the arrangement of desks, to the flowers and pictures on a windowsill can be read and interpreted and used as information in your study. Things, have meanings, and you can access those meanings. SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

16 Syntagmatic Analysis and Paradigmatic AnalysisSyntagmatic Analysis means looking at where the sign sits in relation to other signs, and paradigmatic Analysis is why are those particular signs chosen they pick that particular sign. SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

17 Syntagmatic and ParadigmaticA syntagmatic is an ordered array of signs combined according to certain rules Cat sat on the mat A paradigmatic is a set of signs, any of which are conceivably interchangeable within a given context Cat sat on the mat Dog sat on the mat Cat stood on the mat Cat sat on the chair Cat sat under the chair Cat sat under a chair syntagmatic paradigmatic SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

18 gau hund Inu canis DOG 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. SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

19 Man + Bites + Dog when we do Syntagmatic Analysis we are asking why does the man bite the dog, why isn’t the dog biting the man. The location of the sign is important, and how it relates to the other signs it sits with. MAN BITES + DOG + Syntagmatic SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

20 When we do Paradigmatic Analysis we are asking why isn’t it a woman biting the dog, what is the significance of the fact we have a man biting the dog? The choice of what is in each spot is important Paradigmatic WOMAN MAN + BITES + DOG SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

21 SIGNIFIERS The Cabinet Knick Knacks The GlassSo a real world example of this sort of analysis is this: This is a picture of a cabinet that you might see in any elderly persons home. It’s a cabinet that sits near the door of the home and inside the cabinet is a bunch of knick knacks from around the world. I saw plenty of these when I was doing research into “gated developments” for a developer and these sorts of collections are fairly typical of a lot of “empty nesters ” retirees, that have been in their suburb for years, but are planning on moving to a gated community (not a retirement village).. Using this study as the context, we can use some syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis to draw some meanings and information about the owners of these types of cabinet. For the purposes of this discussion, i’m going to say that the two key signifiers in for the purposes of the study are the knick knacks (Let’s say there are Australian and Overseas Knick Knacks) and the cabinet itself, it’s location etc. The signs make sense within the context of household display. The Glass SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

22 SYNTAGMATIC Australian Front door How are they ordered? InternationalKey questions, Where is it located? near the door, what’s on top what’s inside? The stuff on top of the cabinet are local Australian Knick Knacks (Trophies for golf mostly), but the stuff inside the cabinet is mainly Overseas Knick Knacks. What does this suggest to us about the Syntagmatic structure? Are the things on top more important because they are displayed and accessible? Do Australian Knick Knacks have more weight than the Overseas Knick Knacks? How are the Kick Knacks grouped? By country, by people who sent them home? Is there any order? How are they ordered? International SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

23 PARADIGMATIC Where are the Australian travel Knick Knacks?Why were these things chosen for the cabinet? Paradigmatic What was chosen to be in this cabinet? Why are there things from other countries behind the glass? To be observed? Preserved? What’s not in there, which countries? Where’s the stuff from their trips around Australia, why is that kept somewhere else? What types of Australian items are kept inside? Being able to make these quick sorts of assessments during field work and to question everything you see and to look for additional meanings gives you the opportunity to dig deeper, to ask better questions and to understand more. What’s missing? SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

24 ANALYSIS Cabinet is an unconscious metaphorMap of the perfect world where the international is kept safely behind glass Suburbs are changing Allows you to ask more specific questions and get better answers about why they wanted to move to a gated community. In this case, a quick analysis of the cabinet in the context of how the suburbs around them have been changing (immigration, movement of old friends away etc.) seems to suggest that those things kept “inside” the cabinet are becoming more prevalent in the real world outside their doors. This analysis allowed me to ask more pertinent questions around how they felt about the changes in their suburb, what they imagined a gated community might be like, and the concepts of “people the same as us” – all of these insights proved to be pretty valuable when we worked them into the designs of the final site built on top of this research. To me these sorts of cabinets SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

25 DENOTION CONNOTATION Denotion and connotationSomething else to be aware of when you are doing semiotic analysis, this is the idea of denotion and connotation. Denotion is the literal and obvious translation of a sign into meaning, For example it’s the object being photographed. Connotion is the way it is framed and taken, soft focus hard focus etc. CONNOTATION SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

26 DENOTION For instance this is just a date (the format denotes a date) July 3rd July 3rd SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

27 September 11th CONNOTATIONThis is a date that connotes something as well September 11th Connotations are contextual and cultural associations related to the person creating and interpreting the signs, but also ways of portraying the sign. This is important because it emphasises how important having or being aware of culturally specific knowledge is. And how it can either colour the way you see things, or mean that you might miss some of the cultural information embodied in a set of signifiers. E.g, unless we conversant in chinese culture, the fact that the old number for the bus to Star City Casino in Sydney was 888 wouldn’t mean anything to you (888 is a very lucky number). September 11th SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

28 SEMIOTICS Everything is a sign Signs can be readSigns exist in a structure and context Looking at the structure of signs allows you to get to the meaning For each text what is being said, by whom and why? SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

29 Words and images Anchorage – the way words are used to ‘tie down’ the meaning of an image Relay – the complementary way words and images operate – meaning oscillating back and forth SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

30 Analyzing signs and codesIdentify key signs. How do selection (paradigmatic analysis) and combination (syntagmatic analysis) play a role in the generation of meaning? How do words, colors, areas, images, etc. work together to create meaning? What codes are in operation such that we ‘get’ the correct signifieds from the signifiers? (i.e. meaning) SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

31 Types of signs - iconic Image of peter andre = iconic sign composed of signifier, (mental image of picture), signified (mential concept of peter andre in our minds), referent (the real peter andre walking about in the world) Heat = symbolic sign = signifier (the letters h – e –a – t) , signified (mental concpet of the magazine publication or possible the publisher) – referent the real magazine in the world, or the publisher possibley the editorial team A symbol (or symbolic sign) has a conventionalised connection between sign and referent. An icon (or iconic sign) bears a resemblance to the referent (the actual thing/person in the world SWE Interaction Project - Final Part

32 Analysing visual signsSingle Denotation one thing. Not in a relationship. Connotations available Denotations – the literal meaning(s) of a sign Connotations – the cultural meanings of a sign SWE Interaction Project - Final Part