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This article has been published in: Ocula 15, Commemorating Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914): Interpretive Semiotics and Mass Media

author: Giacomo Festi (NABA, Nuova Accademia delle Belle Arti, Milano (IT))

Diffracted values of the sign in interface. Instagram and Flickr in the light of a Peircean re-reading

language: italian

abstract: In a bid to actualize some aspects of Peirce’s thought for the analysis of cultural contemporary phenomena, this article tests a re-reading that crosses the Peircean approach with the semiotic proposals of Fontanille and Basso. The typology of signs from the Speculative Grammar is re-interpreted as a mapping of the modes by which a sign acquires a semantic value, in relation to, on the one hand, expression and content, and on the other to the different fields of experience where a sign is set (image, situation and culture). The resulting values are analytically tested by comparative contrast with two contemporary apps: Instagram and Flickr, dedicated to a cultural object that was dear to Peirce: photography. The application of filters and tags, in particular, stimulates the exploration of the range of semantic values signs assume around and inside the photographic object when set in an interface.

citation information: Giacomo Festi, Le valenze diffrante del segno in interfaccia. Instagram vs Flickr alla luce di una rilettura peirciana, "Ocula", vol.15, n.15, November 2014. DOI: 10.12977/ocula33

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