Building Communication Theory from Cybersemiotics

Communication sciences have had a significant problem defining what communication is, what communication is about, and what it describes in biological, human, and mechanical contexts. The mechanistic view sees communication as a process of information exchange while the humanistic view conceptualizes it as meaning production, however, none of them has functioned as common ground for theoretical construction or as a way to identify what is or what is not a communication phenomenon. My answer to this problem is the consideration of communication as a transdisciplinary concept and in doing this I will address two theoretical proposals: Robert T. Craig’s metamodel of communication theory and Søren Brier’s cybersemiotics.A Comunicação Social tem apresentado um grande problema em definir o que é comunicação, do que trata a comunicação e o que ela descreve em contextos biológicos, humanos e mecânicos. A visão mecanicista vê a comunicação como um processo de troca de informações, enquanto a visão humanista a conceitua como produção, entretanto, nenhuma delas tem funcionado como base comum para a construção teórica ou como uma forma de identificar o que é ou não um fenômeno de comunicação. Minha resposta a este problema é a consideração da comunicação como um conceito transdisciplinar e, ao fazê-lo, abordarei duas propostas teóricas: o metamodelo da teoria da comunicação de Robert T. Craig e a cibersemiótica de Søren Brier

Semiotic Architecture of Viral Data

In the last 5 years, there has been great debate about digital communication and its role in electoral politics. The question on everyone’s mind is: can viral and massive information on social networks change the voting tendencies and behavior of people? We expose a series of theoretical points from the perspective of semiotics and systemics, to understand these communication phenomena, which are hallmarks of the twenty-first century. We also include some cases of semiotic and systemic orientation and our proposal about natural and artificial communication through viral cascades

Cross-Cultural Communication Strategies That Engage Employees and Increase Productivity.

AbstractLow employee engagement can negatively impact productivity for small fast-food restaurants in the United States. Small fast-food restaurant managers who do not engage employees experience decreased employee productivity. Grounded in Hofstede\u27s cross-cultural dimensions theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies managers of small fast-food restaurants managers use to improve employee engagement. Participants were four small fast-food restaurants manager within the southern region of the United States who used cross-cultural strategies to successfully engage employees. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and internal company documents and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four themes emerged: (a) developing relationships, (b) empathy, (c) mindfulness and respect for others, and (d) training and communicating. A key recommendation is for managers to implement cross-cultural communication training for employees. The implication for positive social change includes the potential to enhance economic growth that supports family well–being in local communities

Space-Time Experience in the Meta-Environment: A Cybersemiotic Analysis

Space-time Experience in the Meta-environment: A Cybersemiotic Analysis Written from the perspective of a reflective technoetic art practitioner, this thesis investigates Human-Computer Interactions in interactive hybrid environments and their influences on mediated consciousness. It argues that practices established during the advent of computer graphic interfaces have limited the interactive potential of such environments. It examines interactive processes among user, information, and interface; proposes a closer look at representational paradigms of space and time; suggests potentially illuminating parallels with complex adaptive systems; and explores their theoretical and practical co-implications. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp’s conceptual-interactive art experiments, Brazil’s syncretic Tropicalismo movement, and Roy Ascott’s technoetic art, this thesis deploys Søren Brier’s Cybersemiotic framework to bridge practice and theory. It presents the interactive hybrid installation Mixing Realities (2009, 2014) as contemporary example, analyzing its physical and digital components, aesthetic and conceptual goals, and reception by various users. This thesis suggests that, as products of the mechanical age, space-time representational paradigms emphasizing embodiment rely on linear visualization and episodic memory, thereby restricting digital information’s potential and preventing more balanced integration among user, information, and interface--a triadic relationship identified as “meta-environment.” This thesis observes that current theoretical frameworks have dissonant understandings of information, communication, process, perception, and meaning, which impedes integration of user-information-interface in a manner that accords them equal weight and acknowledges their mutual influences. The current understanding is that information is either exclusively human perception or computer interface process. Søren Brier’s cybersemiotics integrates phenomenological perceptions and feedback processes, thereby enabling study of the meta-environment with focus on how individual elements influence one another in dynamic triadic relationships. Visual representations of this analysis suggest that each element at some point works as mediator of interactive processes. The possibility of understanding these interactions as dynamic complex adaptive systems creates the potential of expanding how humans interact, perceive space and time, and mediate consciousness