Messages, Signs, and Meanings

Book excerpt: "Messages, Signs, and Meanings can be used directly in introductory courses in semiotics, communications, media, or culture studies. Additionally, it can be used as a complementary or supplementary text in courses dealing with cognate areas of investigation (psychology, mythology, education, literary studies, anthropology, linguistics). The text builds upon what readers already know intuitively about signs, and then leads them to think critically about the world in which they live - a world saturated with images of all kinds that a basic knowledge of semiotics can help filter and deconstruct. The text also provides opportunities for readers to do "hands-on" semiotics through the exercises and questions for discussion that accompany each chapter. Biographical sketches of the major figures in the field are also included, as is a convenient glossary of technical terms." "The overall plan of the book is to illustrate how message-making and meaning-making can be studied from the specific vantage point of the discipline of semiotics. This third edition also includes updated discussions of information technology throughout, focusing especially on how meanings are now negotiated through such channels as websites, chat rooms, and instant messages."--Jacket.