Sign

Sign

2008-01-30 Concordia University

Brigitte Schuster
Creative Commons
Table of contents
- Terminology
  - Fields
  - Examples
- Theories
  - Semiotics
  - History
  - Ferdinand de Saussure
  - Charles Sanders Peirce
- Types of signs
  - Icon, index, symbol
- Sign characteristics
  - Sign in context
  - Sign as part of a system
- Examples of signs in information visualization
Table of contents
- Terminology
  - Fields
  - Examples
- Theories
  - Semiotics
  - History
  - Ferdinand de Saussure
  - Charles Sanders Peirce
- Types of signs
  - Icon, index, symbol
- Sign characteristics
  - Sign in context
  - Sign as part of a system
- Examples of signs in information visualization
Potentially anything can function as a sign.
All thinking is in signs [2].
- Notes
  - [2] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
Terminology
- A sign is
  - Traffic sign of curve = Curve
  - "Something that stands for something else, to someone in some capacity" [1].
  - "The seen concepts lead to perception" [2].
  - "A mark that serves as a substitute for the thing represented and typically has a visual similarity to the object" [3].
- Notes
  - [1] Marcel Danesi and Paul Perron, Analyzing Cultures.Indiana: University Press, 1999.
  - [2] Bussmann, Hadumod. Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft. 3rd ed. Stuttgart: Kroener, 2002.
  - [3] Stroebel, Leslie, and Zakia Richard. The focal Encyclopedia of photography. Boston: Focal Press, 1993. 718.
Terminology (continued)
- The sign has been discussed in many fields:
  - Philosophy, linguistics, literature, communication studies, hermeneutics, history and theory of art, anthropology, sociology, psychologie, biology, natural sciences [1], art, poetry and music [2], architecture, painting, drama [3].
- Notes
  - [1] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
  - [2] Corsini J., Raymond. Encyclopedia of Psychology. 2nd ed. Vol. 3, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994. 408.
  - [3] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
Some Examples
- Signs of the Zodiac [1]
- Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn are cardinal signs (also called by older astrologers a moveable sign) [1]. A cardinal sign is a sign of the zodiac that initiates a change of temperate zone season when the Sun makes its annual passage into them [2].
- Notes
  - [1] Webster, Noah. Webster’s new Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language unabridged – 2nd ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983. 1687-1688.
  - [2] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Cardinal sign. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_sign].
Some Examples (continued)
- Septentrional Signs [1]
- Septentrional is a word that means "of the north". Early maps of North America, mostly those before 1700, often refer to the northern- or northwestern-most unexplored areas of the continent at "Septentrional" or "America Septentrionalis", sometimes with slightly alternate spellings [3].
- Notes
  - [1] Webster, Noah. Webster’s new Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language unabridged – 2nd ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983. 1687-1688.
  - [3] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Septentrional. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septentrional].
Table of contents
- Terminology
  - Fields
  - Examples
- Theories
  - Semiotics
  - History
  - Ferdinand de Saussure
  - Charles Sanders Peirce
- Types of signs
  - Icon, index, symbol
  - Symbol
- Sign characteristics
  - Sign in context
  - Sign as part of a system
- Examples of signs in information visualization
Semiotics
- Field of Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology
  - Study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication, signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. It includes the study of how meaning is constructed and understood [1].
  - Study of signification [2]
  - Study of signs [3]
  - Theory of signs and sign use [4]
- Notes
  - [1] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
  - [2] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
  - [3] Corsini J., Raymond. Encyclopedia of Psychology. 2nd ed., Vol. 3, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994. 408.
  - [4] Kelly, Michael. Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. Vol. 4. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. 263-267.
History/Ancient world
- Semiotic theorists of antiquity
  - Aristotle
  - Augustine
  - Plato
  - Greek Stoics [1]
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
History/Medieval
- Theories by Aristotle and Augustine are further developped
- “The book of nature”, "Book of Scripture" feature signs for special symbols of devine grace (sacraments) [2]
  - Megenberg's Book of Nature from 1499. The book collected everything known from natural history at the time [5].
- Notes
  - [2] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
  - [3] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Christian Art. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_art].
  - [4] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Christian Cross. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross].
  - [5] WDB - Wolfenbütteler Digitale Bibliothek. 28 January 2008. Megenberg's Book of Nature. 28 January 2008 [http://diglib.hab.de/wdb.php?dir=inkunabeln/45-1-phys-2f].
History/Medieval (continued)
- Religious sign: The Christian cross
  - The Christian cross: represents the life, death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as well as human salvation because of His sacrifice. / Cruz Cosenza / Crux gemmata is a fork-ended jeweled cross with thirteen precious stones, from which its Latin name ("gemmed") is derived [3,4].
- Notes
  - [2] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
  - [3] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Christian Art. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_art].
  - [4] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Christian Cross. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross].
  - [5] WDB - Wolfenbütteler Digitale Bibliothek. 28 January 2008. Megenberg's Book of Nature. 28 January 2008 [http://diglib.hab.de/wdb.php?dir=inkunabeln/45-1-phys-2f].
History/Medieval (continued)
- Late in the medieval period and beyond:
  - Peter Fonseca (1528-99) and John Poinsot (1558-1664) anticipated modern developments.
  - John Locke (1632-1704):
  - Nature of signs, their role in human understanding and in the communication of knowledge to others [2].
- Notes
  - [2] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
  - [3] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Christian Art. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_art].
  - [4] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Christian Cross. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross].
  - [5] WDB - Wolfenbütteler Digitale Bibliothek. 28 January 2008. Megenberg's Book of Nature. 28 January 2008 [http://diglib.hab.de/wdb.php?dir=inkunabeln/45-1-phys-2f].
History/19th and 20th century, the ‘modern’ Semiotic
- - Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
  - Three most important theorists after Peirce:
    - Charles Morris (1901-1979), Peirce’s student
    - Thomas A. Sebeok (1920-2001)
    - Umberto Eco (b.1932)
  - Other 20th century scholars: Ferdinand de Saussure, Jacob von Uexkuell, Karl Buehler, Roman Jakobson, Louis Hjelmslev (1899–1965) [1]
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)
- Dyadic Model
- Elements of Semiology [5]
- A sign is composed of the signifier (the sound pattern of a word, either in mental projection - as when we silently recite lines from a poem to ourselves - or in actual, physical realization as part of a speech act), and the signified (the concept or meaning of the word).
- This theory works only in a complex system where signs are not an isolated unity but where they are in the relationship to other signs [1].
- Saussure believes that only the human sender is able to understand and create semiotic processes by communicating his idea to an other human receiver [1].
- Notes
  - [1] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
  - [2] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Signifier. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signifier].
  - [3] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Zeichen#Symbol. 28 January 2008 [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeichen#Symbol].
  - [4] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Structuralism. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuralism].
  - [5] University at Buffalo - College of Arts and Sciences. 28 January 2008. DMS 259 Introduction to media analysis. 28 January 2008 [http://www.cas.buffalo.edu/classes/dms/berna/mrd/media/images/semiomyth.jpg].
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) (continued)
- The relationship between a sign and the real-world thing, which it denotes, is an arbitrary one. There is not a natural relationship between a word and the object it refers to [3].
- A word is only available to acquire a new meaning if it is identifiably different from all the other words in the language and if it has no existing meaning. Structuralism was later based on this idea that it is only within a given system that one can define the distinction between the levels of system and use [2]. Saussure was the originator of the 20th century reappearance of structuralism, and evidence of this can be found in 'Course in General Linguistics' by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye [1].
- Notes
  - [1] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
  - [2] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Signifier. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signifier].
  - [3] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Zeichen#Symbol. 28 January 2008 [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeichen#Symbol].
  - [4] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Structuralism. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuralism].
  - [5] University at Buffalo - College of Arts and Sciences. 28 January 2008. DMS 259 Introduction to media analysis. 28 January 2008 [http://www.cas.buffalo.edu/classes/dms/berna/mrd/media/images/semiomyth.jpg].
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)
- Triadic signs
- Sign notion in Charles Sanders Peirce's theory [4]
- Object: anything that can be thought, whether as a concept or thing, as long as it is capable of being encoded in a sign;
- Sign: the sign that denotes the object (cf. Saussure's "signifier"); and
- Interpretant: the meaning obtained by decoding or interpreting the sign which may be:
  - immediate, i.e. the denotative meaning,
  - dynamical, i.e. the meaning actually produced by the sign, or
  - logical, i.e. the meaning that would be produced if the sign were properly understood.
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
  - [2] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
  - [3] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Signified. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signified].
  - [4] University at Buffalo - College of Arts and Sciences. 28 January 2008. DMS 259 Introduction to media analysis. 28 January 2008 [http://www.cas.buffalo.edu/classes/dms/berna/mrd/media/images/peirce2.jpg
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) (continued)
- Charles S. Peirce shapes the standard version of semiotic theory, focus was on the cultural context: Influenced by Aristotle et scholastics and modern logical theories. He developed a complex system and terminology for the classification of signs.
- Peirce was a Kantian philosopher who distinguishes "sign" from "word", and characterizes it as the mechanism for creating understanding. The entire process by means of which a sign stands for something to someone.
- A theory for the production of meaning that rejects the idea of a stable relationship between a signifier and its signified.
- Peirce believed that signs establish meaning through recursive relationships that arise in sets of three.
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
  - [2] Vrede van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Vol. 2 J-Z. New York: Thomson Gale, 2003. 801-803.
  - [3] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Signified. 28 January 2008 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signified].
  - [4] University at Buffalo - College of Arts and Sciences. 28 January 2008. DMS 259 Introduction to media analysis. 28 January 2008 [http://www.cas.buffalo.edu/classes/dms/berna/mrd/media/images/peirce2.jpg
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)/Examples
- Deaf use their whole body for speaking, different to vocal signs, different in form, in the modifiability, mutual resemblances and in the ways they can mimic signs.
- Language: Signs of a given system are structured and interrelated [1]
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
Table of contents
- Terminology
  - Fields
  - Examples
- Theories
  - Semiotics
  - History
  - Ferdinand de Saussure
  - Charles Sanders Peirce
- Types of signs
  - Icon, index, symbol
- Sign characteristics
  - Sign in context
  - Sign as part of a system
- Examples of signs in information visualization
Types of signs/icon, index, symbol
- Trichotonomy: Peirce’s three-way distinction of types of signs:
- Icon: By physical resemblance
- 'As stubborn as a mule'
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
  - [2] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Zeichen#Symbol. 28 January 2008 [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeichen#Symbol].
Types of signs/icon, index, symbol
- Trichotonomy: Peirce’s three-way distinction of types of signs:
- Index: By physical association, sign is consequence or effect of object
- Smoke = Fire
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
  - [2] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Zeichen#Symbol. 28 January 2008 [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeichen#Symbol].
Types of signs/icon, index, symbol
- Trichotonomy: Peirce’s three-way distinction of types of signs:
- Symbol: By convention
- The letters c-h-a-i-r are a symbol to the real object [1,2]
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
  - [2] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Zeichen#Symbol. 28 January 2008 [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeichen#Symbol].
Types of signs/icon, index, symbol - Example
- Trichotonomy: Peirce’s three-way distinction of types of signs, an example [1]
- Icon: Men's facility
- Index: Location
- Symbol: Stick figure
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 675-679.
  - [2] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 28 January 2008. Zeichen#Symbol. 28 January 2008 [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeichen#Symbol].
Types of signs/icon, index, symbol/Otl Aicher
- Otl Aicher, also known as Otto Aicher (May 13, 1922 - September 1, 1991) was one of the leading German graphic designers of the 20th century [1].
- Otl Aicher Icons
- Otl Aicher created a new set of pictograms that paved the way for the ubiquitous stick figures currently used in public signs [1].
- Notes
  - [1] Meggs,Philip. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. New York: Wiley, 2005.
Table of contents
- Terminology
  - Fields
  - Examples
- Theories
  - Semiotics
  - History
  - Ferdinand de Saussure
  - Charles Sanders Peirce
- Types of signs
  - Icon, index, symbol
- Sign characteristics
  - Sign in context
  - Sign as part of a system
- Examples of signs in information visualization
Characteristics of the sign/Sign in context
- What belongs to a context or framing is determined by interpretation
- The meaning of a context is determined by events
- Signs are constituted/framed by
  - various discursive practices
  - institutional arrangements
  - systems of value
  - semiotic mechanisms
- Codes have to be learned and their distribution varies and changes within a group [1].
- Notes
  - [1] Kelly, Michael. Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Vol. 4. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. 263-267.
Characteristics of the sign/Sign in context - Example Muniz
- Image: Cloud > signifies: lumps of cotton, a coming storm, a whale (our interpretation), or 'Duerer's praying hands' [1] Never these 3 phenomena can be seen at the same time.
  - Vik Muniz, 'Duerer's praying hands', from Equivalents series.
  - His 'Equivalents' series played with Alfred Steiglitz's famous cloud photography by remaking images of clouds, which have often been observed to look like other things (such as Durer's hands) from cotton wool.
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology, London and New York: Routledge,1998. 675-679.
Characteristics of the sign/Sign as part of a system
- A sign or a couple of signs are part of a particular system. The significance depends on the positoning and the structure of the sign in this system [2]. Codes have to be learned and their distribution varies and changes within a group [1].
- Morse alphabet. A word stands for the concept in its whole [1].
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology, London and New York: Routledge,1998. 675-679.
Characteristics of the sign/Sign as part of a system - Example Klee
- The paintings "Insula-dulcamar" and "Embrace": Klee uses signs in a system
- Notes
  - [1] Craig, Edward, Routledge. Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. 8: Questions to Sociobiology, London and New York: Routledge,1998. 675-679.
Table of contents
- Terminology
  - Fields
  - Examples
- Theories
  - Semiotics
  - History
  - Ferdinand de Saussure
  - Charles Sanders Peirce
- Types of signs
  - Icon, index, symbol
- Sign characteristics
  - Sign in context
  - Sign as part of a system
- Examples of signs in information visualization
Examples of signs in information visualization/Rice Project
- Of All The People In All The World (UK)
  - "Each grain of rice = one person and you are invited to compare the one grain that is you to the millions that are not.Over a period of days a team of performers carefully weigh out quantities of rice to represent a host of human statistics: the populations of towns and cities; the number of doctors, the number of soldiers; the number of people born each day, the number who die; all the people who have walked on the moon; deaths in the holocaust.
  - Stans's Cafe Theatre Company UK
  - keywords: Symbol, vizualisation
- Notes
  - [1] tans's Cafe Theatre Company UK. 30 January 2008. Of All The People In All The World (UK). 30 January 2008 [http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/ofallthepeople/index.html].
Examples of signs in information visualization/Newsmap
- Newsmap
  - Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. A treemap visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator.
  - Concept, design & frontend coding: Marcos Weskamp, Backend coding: Marcos Weskamp, Dan Albritton
  - Keywords: information visualization, system, context
- Notes
  - [1] Marumushi, Marcos Weskamp's Web Site. 28 January 2008. Newsmap. 28 January 2008 [http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm].
Examples of signs in information visualization/2006 Scarf
- 2006 Scarf
  - People are invited to send messages and drawings, via a simple web-interface. The window was captured by webcam and broadcast live to the internet. “We stored everything sent to the window in a gallery, and the full sequence has been used to create this scarf. Co-created fashion.”
  - Moving Brands is an independent agency ranked in the top 10 ‘corporate identity design agencies in the UK.
  - keywords: sign, web-interface, co-authorship, vizualisation
- Notes
  - [1] Web Site of Moving Brands. 28 January 2008. 2006 Scarf. 28 January 2008 [http://weare.movingbrands.com/].
Examples of signs in information visualization/Flags
- 2006 Flags
  - "Vizualisation of differences in quality between the flags of different countries. Some countries have clearly taken care in the choice of colours, layout, and design. Others have been lazy, stolen the flags of their neighbours, or just designed flags that are clearly supposed to cause pain to those who look at them.”
  - Josh Parsons, philosophy lecturer, software developer, musician
  - keywords: sign, web-interface,vizualisation
- Notes
  - [1] University of Otago, New Zealand. 28 January 2008. Josh Parsons' Flags. 28 January 2008 [http://www.otago.ac.nz/philosophy/Staff/JoshParsons/flags/intro.html].
Examples of signs in information visualization/We Feel Fine
- We Feel Fine
  - "Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling".”
  - Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvarn
  - keywords: system, sign, web-interface,vizualisation
- Notes
  - [1] We Feel Fine. 28 January 2008. Project Web Site by Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvarn. 28 January 2008 [http://www.wefeelfine.org].
Examples of signs in information visualization/justcurio.us
- justcurio.us
  - "justcurio.us is an anonymous question and answer system, open to anyone, with one simple rule: to ask a question, you must first answer someone else's question. Question yields answer yields question.”
  - Jonathan Harris
  - keywords: system, sign, web-interface,vizualisation
- Notes
  - [1] justcurio.us. 28 January 2008. Project Web Site by Jonathan Harris. 28 January 2008 [http://justcurio.us/].
Examples of signs in information visualization/The world in numbers
- http://www.192021.org/
  - "The mission of is to collect, organize and better understand population's effect regarding business and urban planing and its impact on consumers around the world”.
  - 192021.org - 10 Project Partners
  - keywords: system, sign, web-interface,vizualisation
- Notes
  - [1] 192021.org. 28 January 2008. Project Web Site. 28 January 2008 [http://www.192021.org/].
Thanks!
- www.brigitteschuster.com/presentations/sign

2008-01-30 Concordia University

Creative Commons

Table of contents

Table of contents

Potentially anything can function as a sign. All thinking is in signs [2].

Terminology

Terminology (continued)

Some Examples

Some Examples (continued)

Table of contents

Semiotics

History/Ancient world

History/Medieval

History/Medieval (continued)

History/Medieval (continued)

History/19th and 20th century, the ‘modern’ Semiotic

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) (continued)

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) (continued)

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)/Examples

Table of contents

Types of signs/icon, index, symbol

Types of signs/icon, index, symbol

Types of signs/icon, index, symbol

Types of signs/icon, index, symbol - Example

Types of signs/icon, index, symbol/Otl Aicher

Table of contents

Characteristics of the sign/Sign in context

Characteristics of the sign/Sign in context - Example Muniz

Characteristics of the sign/Sign as part of a system

Characteristics of the sign/Sign as part of a system - Example Klee

Table of contents

Examples of signs in information visualization/Rice Project

Examples of signs in information visualization/Newsmap

Examples of signs in information visualization/2006 Scarf

Examples of signs in information visualization/Flags

Examples of signs in information visualization/We Feel Fine

Examples of signs in information visualization/justcurio.us

Examples of signs in information visualization/The world in numbers

Thanks!

Potentially anything can function as a sign.
All thinking is in signs [2].