[Sigia-l] Re: IA and semiotics - and standards?

[Jonathan Bieley]

There has been a lot of excellent writing about these abstract topics, and I 
think they provide very interesting frameworks for looking at some of the 
larger context for IA. 

But I notice that much of this is about relative preception: an object's 
meaning relative to its context. One thing that affects our work is how these 
contexts are evolving. Consider one little example: a browser has a back 
button that "goes back" through the history of clicked links. We all know 
that this simple behavior breaks for certain technologies (e.g., frames, 
dynamically generated pages) so there is a technical context to what "back" 
means. But in a broader sense, I am seeing "back" buttons in applications 
that are not Web-based. Users seem to like the idea of "going back to what I 
was previously doing/seeing" in screen-driven database applications. So the 
context of the sign has evolved. I am even willing to bet that a left-facing 
arrow is gaining ground as being percieved as "back" even in cultures that do 
not read left to right. It seems to me that the sign is creating its own 
expanding sphere of influence and meaning - some signs aren't just re-
interpreted in new contexts but can also drag their contexts with them.

Not to add more theory, but when is a sign also a meme? 

For me the practical aspect of this is standardization. If what a sign 
signifies encompasses may varied contexts then it becomes a standard. Back, 
the home icon, etc., seem to be de facto standards. A yellow triangle by the 
side of the road seems to be a de jure standard. As IA's we need to have a 
sense of what standards exist, but also those that are emerging - or can be 
created. I would find it fascinating to see a study of the significance (if 
any) of the variation in "home" signs throughout the Web (and which sites 
don't use a graphic home to denote a return to a starting point). For example:

   - Yahoo: uses "Yahoo!" as a home link though they have a "Directory Home" 
            and a "Search Home" on various pages at the top (sometimes left
            sometimes right)
   - Dell: uses a breadcrumb trail with "USA" as the root link below the site
           navigation towards the upper left of the content area
   - Amazon: has a "Welcome" tab at the upper left of the site (though not 
             the corner) and a logo above the tabs with the same function.
   - Adaptive Path: uses "home" in their top of page nav bar as well as a
             left corner logo
   - Boxes and Arrows: uses a logo in the upper left and a "Current"
             tab on the left of the tab bar
   - Wired: uses a rounded button inside of which are: an icon (of a red 
            triangle inside a white circle, the circle stroked with a thick 
            red line) and the word "Home" next to the icon. And a logo. 
            Both below owner branding and Lycos network tool bar but in the 
            upper left relative to content.
   - look at an image search on "Home Icon" in Google for variations

Other examples might be shopping carts (Amazon) or shopping bags (Coach), 
etc. I think that issues of standards, and semiotics, come up more naturally 
when considering branding.

Though perhaps for most in a less formal Peircean or Saussurean way.


Jon Bieley