Sémiotique du web

Knowledge about the basis of semiotic theories.

• basic concepts of semiotics: sign, text, discourse, narrative.
• Verbal and visual on screen: basics and approaches.
• Hypertext, architext, device.
• Interaction and enunciation on-line.
• methodology of semiotic analysis: plastic, iconic, discourse, narrative, values, passions.
• examples of how to analyze web sites and on-line conversations.

• know basic concepts of contemporary semiotics, and their application to the digital world.
• learn to recognize differences and specificities of digital textualities and of screens.
• make the difference between the purely technical dimension of the Web and its symbolic and cultural dimension.
• understand how to apply the semiotic methodology for the analysis of screen texts and web sites.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Appraisal methods are exposed at the beginning of the course.

Lecture, text reading, individual and collective projects.

This course aims at teaching students how to make a semiotic analysis of web sites in an autonomous way.

To do that, the course presents:

• basic notions and concepts of semiotics, in order to apply it to the digital world;
• specificities of screens experience and their social and anthropological implications;
• some considerations on some concepts and notions that are important to understand the digital world from a semiotic point of view (hypertext, architext, device);
• a semiotic approach to interactivity and interaction on-line;
• the components of a semiotic analysis grid for web sites, specifically from a comparative point of view.
• The course underlines the distinction between the strictly technical dimension of the web and its cultural and symbolic dimensions.

Course materials are presented and distributed at the beginning and during the course.