The dialectics of indexical semiosis: scaling up and out from the “actual” to the “virtual”

2021 ◽  
Vol 272 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-45
Author(s):  
Michael Silverstein

Abstract Conventional indexicality is semiotically effective when regimented by its meta-indexical (or “metapragmatic”) interpretant, a conceptual scheme presumed upon by participants in communication that determines the categories of possibility for a relevant “here-and-now” of indexically signaled co-presence, just as, conversely, such an interpretant is an emergent consequence of the sign’s pointing to its object. In the more general case of non-denotational indexicality – forms indicating everything from perduring demographic characteristics of participants in interaction to their role incumbencies, voicings of identity, and momentary relational attitudes and affects (loosely termed “stances”) – the culture – and thus group-specific metapragmatics (or “ethno-metapragmatics”) is central to how indexicals entail the mutual (il)legibility of interlocutors and the (in)coherence of interactional projects in which they are engaged, the “interactional text” of what is happening. This inherent metapragmatic functionality of models of indexical signs and their contexts is, in general, itself influenced by genres of metapragmatic discourse about social life that “circulate” among networks of people who participate in certain sites of sociality. Such “circulation” is a virtual reality that comes into being via chains of interdiscursivity, allowing us to imagine an “ideological” plane with its own order of virtual semiotic dialectic that, notwithstanding, we experience in actual interactional context by its effects on the ever-changing what and how of indexicality.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-50
Author(s):  
Alp Karaca

Due to the developing economic and technological opportunities, our structural environment and living spaces vary. In line with the increasing supply and demands of human beings, technological developments are increasing day by day, and they are trying to meet the expectations. The technological developments that started with the French Revolution show themselves in our living spaces, in every environment, where human beings exist and play the first-order factor in our lives. There is a process where living spaces and designs change and technological developments restructure the social environment of human beings. Technology, which developed rapidly, especially after 1990, is no longer a necessity but has become an indispensable part of our social life. Today, our relations with each other are now in a direct connection with technology. While our living spaces are being renewed and changed so rapidly, today’s adequacy of architectural education should be questioned. Has the education given in architectural education been able to meet the rapidly increasing demands of human beings? Have technological opportunities been a part of architectural education and can they use it effectively? The answer to these questions will be tried to be answered within the scope of architectural education, which is the focus of the research. In particular, the extent to which architectural design, which has a great place in the virtual reality environment, is supported during the university education process will be explored and the relationship between technological developments and design education will be revealed. In addition to the resource and data analyses to be carried out at all universities that provide architectural education accredited by YOK throughout Northern Cyprus, the research will also include observation methods and reports.   Keywords: Architectural education, technology, living spaces, virtual reality, design, North Cyprus.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 4191-4205
Author(s):  
Pablo Revuelta Sanz ◽  
Belén Ruiz Mezcua ◽  
José M. Sánchez Pena ◽  
Bruce N. Walker

In this study we present the results of evaluating the sonification protocol of a new assistive product aiming to help the visually impaired move more safely with the help of sounds organized in different cognitive profiles. The evaluation was carried out with 17 sighted and 11 visually impaired participants. The experiment was designed over both virtual and real environments and divided into 3 virtual reality based tests. Finally, four participants became experts by means of longer and deeper training, and they participated in a real life test and in a focus group at the end of the tests. Both quantitative and qualitative results were extracted, showing that the proposed system is able to help the users understand their surroundings via sounds. However, important limitations have been found in the sample used (some important demographic characteristics are strongly linked among them, limiting segregated analysis), the usability of the most complex profile, or even the special difficulties faced by the completely blind participants as compared to the sighted and low vision participants.


2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-159
Author(s):  
Olivera Gajic ◽  
Spomenka Budic ◽  
Biljana Lungulov

Social transition and changes in the cultural context inevitably impose the need of redefining the value systems which are particularly reflected through the differences of the multicultural framework such as, for example, Vojvodina. The paper presents the results of a theoretical and empirical study of students? interests and value orientations. The results are viewed through the prism of influence of respondents? individual and socio-demographic characteristics. Non-experimental causal method was used to study the correlation between variable groups. Interviewing was the research technique. The instrument for data collection was the questionnaire constructed for the purposes of the research. The study was conducted during the school year 2007/08 in Novi Sad, on the sample of 480 respondents - students of the University of Novi Sad, aged 19 to 24. Gender was studied in the group of personal (individual, constitutional) features and it proved out to be a significant correlate of certain interests: sport, cultural and creative, as well as relational values (nourishing harmonious family relations, marriage, parenthood, partnership, feeling of belonging et al.). In the group of socio-demographic characteristics (structural forms of the family, financial status, social background, socio-cultural space: rural-urban) it was established that social background correlates with interest in sport activities, educational and artistic interests, while variables social background and place of residence correlate with social life and social relations as dominant value orientations. Research results provide pedagogical implications for educational work with youth aimed at developing the values connected with constructive activities and encouragement of proactive orientation with respect to one?s own surroundings and existence, as well as the guidelines for introducing new contents into the existing curricula, in accordance with the expressed values and interests of youth.


2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 415
Author(s):  
Orose Leelakulthanit

Life satisfaction is conceptualized in this study according to the psychological and spiritual characteristics, satisfaction with various domains of life, and the demographic characteristics of individuals living in Thailand. Adult Internet users and non-Internet users in Thailand were interviewed. The Internet users were found to be more satisfied with their lives than the non-Internet users. Multiple regression analyses were conducted and the results showed that the Internet users value optimism, personal health, and self positively, whereas consumption of goods was valued negatively. The non-Internet users value optimism, internal locus of control, and family positively, whereas being moderate and social life were valued negatively. Furthermore, it was found that the Internet users felt they could live their lives in the way they valued, except for the aspect of the consumption of goods. Non-Internet users, on the other hand, felt that they were not able to live their lives in the way they valued, except for the aspect of family and social life.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeedeh Sadeghi ◽  
Ricardo Daziano ◽  
So-Yeon Yoon ◽  
Adam K. Anderson

Numerosity, complexity and affect are among factors known to dilate perceived time. While such objective and subjective factors are usually tested in isolation with simple stimuli in the lab, here we examined the perceived passage of time in the ecology of daily social life: crowded public transit. Higher crowding level denotes a higher numerosity along with increased negative affect. Accordingly, we hypothesized that crowding lengthens subjective trip duration. Participants (N=41) experienced short (between 1 to 2 minutes) immersive subway trips using Virtual Reality (VR). Each individual experienced multiple virtual trips with different crowding levels. After each trip, they were asked to estimate the trip duration and rate its affective pleasantness. Presence of one additional person per square meter of the train significantly increased perceived travel time by an average of 1.8 seconds. Rather than objective factors, this effect was mediated by subjective negative feelings induced by crowding. Analysis of cardiac data also revealed the slope of change in heart rate during a trip as a physiological source of perceived travel time, independent of the crowding level. This study is an example of bringing basic psychological and physiological findings into an ecologically valid setting using VR technology. Findings have broader implications for the effects of disliking social crowding on our daily perceptions, which is likely more pronounced during or even after the COVID-19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49
Author(s):  
M. I. Kozyakova ◽  

The beginning of the information age is associated with the intensive development of fundamentally new information technologies. On their basis, the screen culture is formed generating the formation and development of the virtual reality sphere. This artificially created space is a consequence of scientific progress, the result of technological innovations. Virtual reality is currently perceived as an integral part of social life, as a socio-cultural environment, as a living space of a person. In turn, the virtual environment affects the man himself. The impact of this sphere is one of the central moments in the profound transformations of the lifestyle and mentality of our contemporary. In this regard, there are complex problems associated with understanding the expansion of screen technology, with the paradox of the existence of artificial worlds. Virtual reality is becoming more and more widespread in various fields, including art, especially cinema, gaming and entertainment. Being an integral attribute of modern civilization, it has a contradictory, paradoxical character. It is marked by an anthropic principle, a variety of interpretations, and polarization of social assessments. The article considers its genetically mediated features, ontological, social, axiological and communication aspects. As a result of this analysis, conclusions are drawn about the emergence of new trends in social life and in art.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-88
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Kielin

Today’s city longs for air and green. Congestion, overflow of car traffic, the pace and randomness of contemporary living might serve as plights for the spaces around us since one might observe accruing amounts of waste produced by humans, pollution or disorganization/ inconsistency/ incongruity of public spaces. Quite threatening might that be, but there has been observed a ‘trickling’, continuous shift of a social life towards virtual reality of tempting, alluring social media, games, news on-and-on broadcasts, shopping websites. We engage in perversely intimate relation with our ‘cuddle-to’ electronic devices – phones, laptops, smartphones. Little Prince would not be happy with ‘our establishing ties’ with lifeless machines, would he? Getting children out of their computers to kick some ball or play hide-and-seek turns into changing the current of a river or tempering with a bee. It will definitely stab you. Can a historically charged, conservatory space be a no space?


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-399
Author(s):  
Mina Mohammadpour ◽  
◽  
Majid Hosseini Abrishami ◽  
Sahand Samiei Rad ◽  
Jahanshir Tavakolizadeh ◽  
...  

Aims: Anxiety due to dental interventions and its complications are common in cases, like wisdom tooth surgery. Related pharmacotherapy is also associated with adverse effects and are not accepted by some patients. Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the new and non-invasive technologies proposed in this regard. This study aimed to determine the effects of VR on patients’ anxiety before dental surgery. Methods & Materials: In this clinical trial, 60 patients who were candidates for dental surgery in Dental School in Mashhad City, Iran, were randomly assigned to two groups of control and intervention (n=30/group). Initially, in addition to demographic characteristics, patients’ anxiety levels were measured using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Then, the intervention group was placed in VR space for 12 minutes using the Remax-RT-V03 audio-visual device; however, no intervention was performed in the control group. Before surgery, anxiety was re-measured by a questionnaire in two groups with the same time interval (15 minutes after the first stage). The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS by Independent Samples t-test, Paired Samples t-test, and Chi-squared test at a significant level of P≤0.05. Findings: The Mean±SD age of the examined patients was 26.5±4.9 years. In total, 53.3% and 46.7% of the study participants were female and male, respectively. The research groups were homogeneous concerning demographic characteristics. The Mean±SD scores of anxiety in the research units before the intervention were 55.56±7.08 in the experimental group and 53.70±10.53 in the control group, i.e., not significantly different. However, after the intervention, anxiety decreased in the experimental group (45.56±10.52), compared to the control group (54.53±9.83); the difference between the study groups was significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: Applying VR was effective in reducing patients’ anxiety before dental surgery; thus, its use in dental clinics is recommended after additional studies.


Author(s):  
Олег Геннадійович Данильян ◽  
Олександр Петрович Дзьобань

Problem setting. An identity is formed and develops on a border social and personal realities, by submitting a soba their contradictory unity the study of that helps social philosophy to expose the features of life of modern society. For the study of virtuality the analysis of totality of spatially-judicial descriptions of authentication is needed, that will allow to overcome the context of her opening out in the conditions of virtualization of society, when the potential prevails above available. Life is impossible out of time and space, it has specific spatial descriptions. Recent research and publications analysis. Despite the growing interest in the study of the virtual, in modern scientific discourse there is still no unambiguous interpretation of the term "virtual reality": it is understood as an artificial environment supported by computer programming tools (including the Internet and computer simulators), a number of human mental states ( hypnotic trance, dreams, creative process, etc.), as well as a set of phenomena associated with the functioning of the media environment (media, digital economy, etc.). As a result of this posture, the attention of researchers remained the problems of the influence of spatial parameters of virtuality in the social environment. Paper objective. The purpose of the article is to consider the features of spatiality inherent in virtual reality in general, as well as the specifics of cyber-virtuality as a special manifestation of the virtual in social reality. Paper main body. Entering the virtual environment involves going through the initial registration procedure and subsequent identification, a kind of simplified initiation rites, “initiation” into users. In addition, the user gets the opportunity to identify himself as “his”, acquires a different status than the “guest”, which is anonymous, invisible, in many cases does not have access to information or cannot leave comments. Leaving the Web returns a person to a state of anonymity, while re-entering leads to individuation and return to the cyber-virtual microspace, the person's immediate environment on the Web. The concept of "virtual ghetto" is considered, which means a space that isolates subjects within the framework of a virtual social community from other groups through borrowing patterns of social interaction and through the choice of contexts of self-presentation that allow them to best "fit" into their environment. The Internet is a new space for social practices, a space of boundless, relatively free, communication, despite the desire to control the processes taking place there by the authorities. This is a space for free self-expression of a person, a refuge for creative research, a repository of wisdom, an arena for debate, a work of art that can be valued as a masterpiece of music, painting or architecture. Here it is possible to create social movements based on value identities, independent of the so-called flows (informational, symbolic, monetary, etc.) that regulate social life, set its pace and often contribute to human alienation in the modern world, in particular, through control over access to the Internet. Comprehension of the category of virtual space leads to the statement that traditional spatial oppositions are erased here, and any point in the world can become close and even central. The cycles of entry and exit from this space set the rhythm of relations within virtual communities, self-developing intellectual systems, united by a semantic field that is significant for each of their members. Conclusions of the research. Relations within virtual communities are determined in a certain way by the functioning of social fields characterized by a set of norms, the internalization of which leads to the inclusion of the individual in the field, where he is endowed with some freedom of action. Human limitation by the framework of the field, his dependence on the virtual microspace in decision-making, being on the “virtual periphery” is opposed to absolute freedom, leading, ultimately, to the limitation of the framework of personal space, fraught with alienation from society, the loss of the need for communication and society.


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