[Sigia-l] IA and semiotics [and at least a partial digression ]

[Vanessa Wolfe-Coote]

My background touched on aspects of semiotics but I was more focussed on
postmodern cultural theory, especially of gender, post-colonialism and
embodiment. 

At first I had great difficulty trying to align my deconstructionist
philosophical leanings a la Derrida (black is not the opposite of white;
there are both white and non-white) with the reality that my day job was
constructing categories for information. Then I discovered single-source
content published in multiple locations, faceted taxonomies, and the likes.
I have found inner peace ;-)

When I think of cyberspace it conjures Foucault's idea of the panopticon - a
circular prison with a watch tower at the centre, which becomes regulated
irrespective of whether the watch tower is occupied. In cyberspace you are
both subject and object of the virtual gaze - over time I anticipate that
cyberspace will thereby become increasingly more regulated (it's just been
announced in the UK that police will surf chat rooms to deter paedophiles
from 'grooming' young children)- and will call for new acts of subversion.
What will this mean for IAs of the future?

In terms of semiotics, with the tendency towards a globalized information
economy most manifest in cyberspace, will the barriers dissolve between
culturally inferred signs, and over time give way to or remain in parallel
with a shared ideography?

Hmmm...

Cheers
Vanessa