[Sigia-l] is there a word

[gunnar]

Hi Christina, Eric and all,

Back in 1992 I did my major thesis on semiotical theory of computer graphics 
and leaned a lot on Peircean semiotics.
I couldn't find his list back then, so I suspect he doesn't have one really. 
As he was looking for types of sign function, he may never have given a name 
to "a set of icons" representing some aspects of a given "micro world" like a 
hotel.
I actually suspect that Christina is looking for a very pragmatic term, and 
thus will be less interested in some extremely academical distinction. 
In my thesis I also did an analysis of the GUI (No I did not mention the 
internet - but I managed to mention Fidonet "en passant" in my foreword while 
ridiculing contemporary media research, and the (then) total lack of interest 
in computer media ;-)).
Peirce differentiates between three types of signs or sign functions: Icons, 
Indexes and Symbols. In his world most "Icons" would be Symbols - because 
there should be a qualitative likeness between an icon (Peircean) and the 
object that it represents. (No this is not linguistic/saussurean semiology 
where the relation between the sign and the signified is arbitrary). Some 
icons would be indexes - as they may be an actual "thumbnail" of another 
image. And only few icons would be predominably "icons" in the peircean 
sense - because the simplification of the represented, and because there need 
to be some "cultural knowledge" on the part of the person who understands the 
icons, for them to actually work (see below example). 

As I understand it Christina wants a term for the "set of icons". Such a set 
would have some common "denominator" - by design for instance - which would 
render them recognizalby "kin". This likeness need not be linguistically 
understood, but may just be "by design".

This reminds me of the toilets at the "Eagle park" on Grand Canaria which i 
visited a couple of years ago with my family. The ladies room has a normal 
icon with a stylized woman in full figure. The mens room however, is marked 
by the head of a pipe smoker. So these two "icons" were a set (of 
two) - but lacked in likeness to each other. We only understand that it is 
not the "smoking room" because we (culturally) know that there should be a 
ladies room AND a mens room.

For Peirce the set of Icons would be a sign function too. It would be a sign 
in itself. And the interesting part would be how the "set" made itself a set 
and not just a bunch of unrelated signs.
But I don't think he has a specific word for a set of signs.

So we may have to invent a word. And I'm hardly the right person to do so in 
english.

(BTW: When Christina posted I first looked in Umberto Ecos: A Theory of 
Semiotics to see if I could come up with something, but it struck me that 
this is all too theoretical. We simply need a word for a set of icons - or we 
should just call it a set of icons.)

Best
Gunnar

Christina:
> Christina Wodtke asked:
> "Is there a word for a set of icons that represent aspects of a
> thing: like a hotel that has icons that represent pool, pets welcome,


Eric:
> No, I don't think there is such a word, although several good
> suggestions have been made here. Charles S. Peirce categorized dozens
> of types of signs around the turn of the last century, but I haven't
> been able to find his list. He may have coined a phrase you can use.

Gunnar Langemark
gunnar at langemark.com