Semiotic Analysis of New Media

Objective of the course “Semiotic Analysis of New Media” is: a) to provide acquaintance with the object and the tools of semiotics and b) to introduce the students to the study of the meaning of symbolic systems in regard to new media. The so-called new media, characterized by its interactivity provided by computer technology, have vanished the clear separation between creator/producer and user/consumer. As a result, any attempt to decode the content of different forms of interactive artworks or systems has to take in consideration the connection between body, media and interpretation because the contact with the work essentially affects its content and simultaneously its meaning. Therefore, the course is grounded on the relation between phenomenology, cognitive psychology and semiotics.

Αντικειμενικοί Στόχοι - Επιδιωκόμενα Μαθησιακά Αποτελέσματα:
Creating and encoding meaning in computer environment. Interactive narrative analysis. Icons, images and hypermedia. Relationship between audiovisual content and peripherals in data interpretation.

Περιεχόμενο (Syllabus):
Part 1) Homo Ludens: what is a “game” and what is “playing”. Structural models in nonlinear environments. Elements of interactive performance. User and creator. Narrative and videogames. Videogame's genres and platforms.
Part 2) The rules of the game. Bluffing, cheating and the gamer culture. Dramatization and strategy. The player's psychology. Space and Place. Variations of the immersive experience. The issues of identity, gender and age.
Part 3) Methodology of videogame analysis: the documentation of the gameplay observation and the recording of the game experience through verbal evaluation media, the treatment of data and the recognition of the more characteristic emotions. Bibliographic research and references.
Part 4) Internet Art: features and themes. The art of the internet as a parody of aesthetic, digital and social codes / creative misinformation. Post Internet Art and future aesthetic and conceptual developments.
Part 5) Presentation of final assignment.

Bibliography:
Goffman, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1959.
Oatley, Keith and Jennifer M. Jenkins, Understanding Emotions, Oxford: John Wiley and Sons, 1996.
Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. Brooklyn, NY: Angelico Press, 2016.
Material available on the e-class platform.

Teaching and learning methods:
Lectures.
Home assignments.

Evaluation/Assessment methods:
Final written assignment.
Oral presentation of final written assignment.

Creating and encoding meaning in computer environment. Interactive narrative analysis. Icons, images and hypermedia. Relationship between audiovisual content and peripherals in data interpretation.

Part 1) Homo Ludens: what is a “game” and what is “playing”. Structural models in nonlinear environments. Elements of interactive performance. User and creator. Narrative and videogames. Videogame's genres and platforms.

Part 2) The rules of the game. Bluffing, cheating and the gamer culture. Dramatization and strategy. The player's psychology. Space and Place. Variations of the immersive experience. The issues of identity, gender and age.

Part 3) Methodology of videogame analysis: the documentation of the gameplay observation and the recording of the game experience through verbal evaluation media, the treatment of data and the recognition of the more characteristic emotions. Bibliographic research and references.

Part 4) Presentation of final assignment.

Arnheim, Rudolf. Visual Thinking, University of California Press, 1997.
Elias, Norbert, The Symbol Theory, Sage Publication, 1991.
Goffman, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1959.
Kress, Gunther and Theo Van Leeuwen, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, Routledge, 2006.
Oatley, Keith and Jennifer M. Jenkins, Understanding Emotions, Oxford: John Wiley and Sons, 1996.
Zeki, Semir. Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and the Brain, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Material available on the e-class platform.

Lectures.
Home assignments.

Final written assignment.
Oral presentation of final written assignment.