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Social Semiotics

What is social semiotics? It is a question that was posed to me in an assignment, and I had no idea where to start on "social semiotics". So,   after research, this is what I have come up with. First let's define what semiotics is, which should help. Semiotics is the study of signs and how they are interpreted. These signs are not just pictures, they can be broader, much more diverse meaning. Semiotics in general have been discussed as far back as Ancient Greece, but the one credited with modern semiotics is Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss linguist. Saussure had the belief that all language itself was full of signs and started the trend of studying current, at the time, languages.  The significance of Saussure making this statement is that before him, language was studied as a crystalized subject, in that the "sings" or meanings were not studied as much as the words inside the language. Saussure revolutionized the importance of meaning behind words. Below is a vi...
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Who Doesn't Love a Good Argument

 I really enjoyed this assignment. Trying to find different arguments that were being conducted online lead to some pretty ridiculous arguments being made. I realized that maybe the enjoyment I get out of listening or reading pointless arguments is not a good thing. In fact, maybe I am part of the problem because I love a good argument. I find it great when I can win an argument, but I also find that whenever I lose one, the benefit of learning something new definitely outweighs the emotional toll of losing an argument. But I digress and let's continue towards the argument I chose to follow.  "Ghosting" people who are rude, annoying and making your life worse, etc etc isn't a shitty thing to do and should be normalised. This is the headline from a sub-reddit called r/unpopularopinion. The OP (original poster) states that basically it should be ok for one to "ghost" someone who is in the wrong. Here is a link to the Original Thread . Ghosting refers to ending...

Toulmin and Pat McAfee

 It is easy to get into an argument these days. I feel like you can throw a biscuit at someone, and an argument will start. That might be because you threw a biscuit at someone, but there is a chance someone will critique your form when you threw the biscuit, or why you threw a biscuit instead of throwing a muffin, because the biscuit is not a better missile than a muffin. It really doesn't matter anyway, because you are now in an argument. Hopefully, you can hold your ground in this argument and if you have an understanding of the Toulmin Model, you will at least be able to communicate your reasoning for throwing the biscuit.      The Toulmin Model is a way of understanding the logical flow of an argument. The three basic parts of the Toulmin Model is the claim, reasons, and the evidence ( Communicating Online, 316) . The claim is your main argument you are presenting, with the reasons supporting the claim, and then the evidence is the support system that justifies ...

Communication Junkie Lessons

       I personally tend to listen to comedy or horror podcasts on regular basis. If I am feeling smart and educated, sometimes I listen to a random Harvard Business Review IdeaCasts episode just to feel like I fit in with my wife. That changed when I started taking this class. I saw that we had to complete a podcast as an assignment, so I started compiling a list of podcasts on communication. Luckily enough, when this assignment came up, I had a repertoire of podcasts built up that dealt with this very topic. I chose to do this assignment on Communication Junkie's podcast, and specifically the one titled, " Surviving Social Media " where the host, Steven Fuller, talks about the time he posted a tweet that caused some difficulties with his job. In a short rundown, though I suggest listening to the podcast since it is only 10 minutes or so long, the host explains how he sent a tweet out in as a joke. (Fuller, 2019) How the public perceived the tweet and the fallo...

Public Opinion and Social Media

      Although I tend to have a negative view on social media, there is no doubt the benefit that social media can have on society. When I look Bullet 3, it seems easy to answer about how social media has allowed users to win over the hearts and minds of people. It is easy to get caught up in the negativity that floats around the internet, but it would be remiss if the positives were not pointed out more. For example, the  Ice Bucket Challenge  raised over $135 million dollars for ALS research. By using social media, awareness was spread for ALS allowing those to donate as well as win people over for the cause.     Social media has also given those the platform to speak who have either been afraid or unable to voice their opinions before. The #MeToo allowed those to speak out on the sexual harassment they had experienced. While shameful that it took a movement on social media to rectify the acts of those in power, but the #MeToo movement...

Chicago Public Library

The Chicago Public Library is a beautiful system inside and out. And I say system because of the 80 different locations you can go to inside the city limits of Chicago. And I say inside and out because not only are the buildings beautiful and full of books and rare items, especially the Harold Washington Library in Downtown Chicago, but they also have such a diverse and wide presence online.       When you open up the  Chicago Public Library  homepage online, you see the below image. While it might not be the flashiest or the awe-inspiring work of art that some webpages are, for a library, this is the go-to format, and the CPL does a great job with it. All major libraries have about the same format for all their webpages. Here are a few you should check out to see the similarities.  New York Miami London It is important for libraries to have a simple, yet effective webpage for their patrons to follow. This is because libraries are meant to be accessibl...

Digital Natives: Real or Myth?

Good Ole Prensky     Marc Prensky coined the term "digital natives" in 2001 in the article "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" published in On the Horizon.  Prensky does explains that those born into this more technologically advanced age are digital natives due to the fact that the children grow up with these new digital devices and interact with the devices their whole, albeit young, lives. Those born before this time frame, or 1984 as Kirschner believes, are digital immigrants due to the fact that they lived lives before the advancement of the digital world and are in face new and must assimilate to the digital world. The graph below does a good job of explaining the ways that digital natives and digital immigrants consume information.  So, by this logic, I myself would fall into the digital native category. I feel like I would disagree with Prensky if it was based on my experiences alone. Although I consume too much digital information, more than what is d...