A theory of computer semiotics - semiotic approaches to construction and assessement of computer systems

Semiotics also includes the general principles that underlie all sign systems. It is thus more comprehensive than linguistics--very much more, because there is a semiotic dimension to practically every human artifact. (Indeed, since we can 'read in' meanings to natural events, e.g., as in 'the lack of rain shows God's displeasure,' semiotics is not even limited to human artifacts.) In recent years there has been a rapid growth of interest in the ways that humans and machines may communicate with each other by the use of modes and codes other than written natural language text. For example, one theme of the recent International Natural Language Generation Workshop at Trento was the 'extension of language generation to multiple media.' Relevant contributions in Dale et al. (1992) include the chapters by Claasen and Reithinger on pointing and, perhaps more futuristically, Magnenat-Thalmann and Kalra's "A model for creating and visualizing speech and emotion." There was a panel discussion with published statements by Arens, Dale, Kerpedjiev, Stock, and Wahlster et al. Earlier works in this line of development include Taylor, Neel, and Boushuis (1989); the account of COMET (CoOrdinated Multimedia Explanation Testbed) by McKeown and her colleagues (McKeown et al. 1990); and the descriptions by Wahlster and his colleagues (Wahlster et al. 1989, 1992 and references therein) of their multi-media system, WIP. So computational semiotics should be an idea whose time has come or, at least, whose time is coming.