mcomu2113  2020-2021  Mons

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information below is subject to change, in particular that concerning the teaching mode (presential, distance or in a comodal or hybrid format).
5 credits
30.0 h
Q1
Teacher(s)
Catellani Andrea;
Language
French
Main themes
  • 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.
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1
  • 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.
 
Content
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;
  • some considerations on some concepts and notions that are important to understand the digital world from a semiotic point of view (in particular, the screen as a text, multimediality, interactivity, distinction between text and paratext);
  • the components of a semiotic analysis grid for web sites, specifically from a comparative point of view.
Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Lectures, reading of texts, accompanied exercises, individual and group practical work.
Green code: activities and sessions mainly face-to-face. Yellow code: activities and sessions partly distance and partly face-to-face, if the number of students allows it. Orange code: mainly distance learning activities.
Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

2 point: active participation to the course (the precise modalities will be communicated at the beginning of the course). Failure to obtain these two points implies having to retake the examination at the second session.
18 points: production of a written report analyzing a website, done partly individually and partly in groups (the report produced by each group includes collective parts and individual parts). Part of the final grade is collective (5 points), another part is individual (13 points). Participation in group work is mandatory.  A deficiency on the individual part of the work implies having to retake the examination at the second session (this rating becomes the final overall rating of the first session).
Second session: if all the students who form a working group must retake the exam, they must repeat the analysis and submit a new analysis report (which counts for 18 points); if only one or more members have a deficiency rating, they must represent only their individual part of the analysis, and therefore only their individual part of the group report (which counts for 13 points), and in this case the part of the rating for the collective part is retained. The points of the active participation to the course are preserved, if they have been obtained; if the student who has to retake the exam has not obtained the two points of active participation to the course, he must carry out additional individual work.
Other information
Course materials are presented and distributed at the beginning and during the course, on the Student Corner page of the course.
Bibliography
"Sémiotique du récit", N. Everaert-Desmedt, Deboeck, 2007.
"Le webdesign. Sociale expérience des interfaces web", N. Pignier, B. Drouillat, Hermès-Lavoisier, 2008.
"Sémiotique mode d'emploi", J.-J. Boutaud et K. Berthelot-Guiet, Le bord de l'eau, 2014.
"Introduction à l'analyse de l'image", M. Joly, Armand Colin, 3ème éd. 2015.
"Le numérique comme écriture. Théories et méthodes d'analyse", Emmanuel Souchier, Etienne Candel, Valérie Jeanne-Perrier, Gustavo Gomez-Mejia, Armand Colin, 2019.
"SIte internet : audit et stratégie", Sébastien Rouquette (dir.), De Boeck supérieur, 2017.
Teaching materials
  • Supports de cours et lectures mis à disposition sur Student corner
Faculty or entity
COMU


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] in Communication

Master [60] in Information and Communication