Interactive Media: The Semiotics of Embodied Interaction

Abstract

Having now armed ourselves with an understanding of some basic semiotic concepts, such as signs, syntagmatic structures, and layers of meaning, we shall now go on to explore how these ideas have been used to theorize about various aspects of visual (in our case screen-based) media. Here the focus will be on looking for ways in which semiotic theory can help us to understand the structure and properties of interactive screen-based media. In the initial sections, we will explore how semiotic theory has been applied to understanding subjects such as graphic design, visual images, and film. In the latter half of the chapter, we will take some of these ideas forward to a case study that explores the issue of the remediation of creative media.