Denotation and connotation in the human-computer interface: The ‘Save as...’ command

This paper presents a semiotic technique as a means of exploring meaning and understanding in interface design and use. This is examined through a study of the interaction between the ‘file’ metaphor and ‘save as’ command metaphor. The behaviour of these (from a functional or computational basis) do not exactly match, or map onto, the meaning of the metaphor. We examine both the denotation of a term to the user, i.e. its literal meaning to that person, and the term’s connotations, i.e. any other meanings associated with the term. We suggest that the technique applied is useful in predicting future problems with understanding the use of metaphor at the interface and with designing appropriate signification for human-computer interaction. Variation in connotation was expected but a more fundamental difference in denotation was also uncovered. Moreover, the results clearly demonstrate that consistency in the denotation of a term is critical in achieving a good user understanding of the command

Political leadership and the politics of performance:France, Syria and the chemical weapons crisis of 2013

This article draws upon developments in UK research on political rhetoric and political performance in order to examine the incident in 2013 when French President François Hollande committed French forces to a US-led punitive strike against Syria, after the use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb on 21 August. The US-led retaliation did not take place. This article analyses Hollande's declaration on 27 July and his TV appearance on 15 September. His rhetoric and style are best understood as generic to the nature of the presidential office of the Fifth Republic. The article concludes by appraising how analysis of the French case contributes to the developing literature on rhetoric, celebrity and performance

Psychosocial studies: Lacanian discourse analysis negotiating interview text

This paper shows, through exploration of interview transcripts, how conceptual elements derived from Lacanian theory can be used for analytic purposes. Rather than colonizing the text with psychoanalytic discourse, it organizes 21 aspects of Lacan's approach to discourse into seven clusters of analytic concepts concerned with the formal qualities of text, the anchoring of representation, the question of agency and determination, the role of knowledge in a text, positions in language, deadlocks of perspective, and the interpretation of textual material. This reading does not claim to unlock the secrets of the text or of those represented in it, nor does it attempt to show how psychoanalysis can be ‘applied’ outside the clinical setting. Instead, through attention to the productive effects of discourse and psychoanalysis, it aims to redeem the promise of those nonreductionist traditions in psychosocial research that attend to the construction of subjectivity