Semiotic Democracy

mzungu

John Fiske notes how we make meanings from the texts we consume can be liberating when we have the discursive competencies to form our own meaning from it. Back in 1987, he was talking about television, but fast forward today we have powerful ICTs that allow participation in that process to anybody with an internet connection. Whether that be updating Wikipedia, or uploading a remixed video compilation onto YouTube or even a remix of a song (eg. hip hop etc).

Is this semiotic democracy a defining characteristic of the internet age?

Black Swan

mzungu wrote: »

Is this semiotic democracy a defining characteristic of the internet age?

And to what extent does semiotic disobedience compare, contrast, or elaborate upon semiotic democracy (Sonia K. Katyal, 2012)?

mzungu

Black Swan wrote: »

And to what extent does semiotic disobedience compare, contrast, or elaborate upon semiotic democracy (Sonia K. Katyal, 2012)?

I think it neatly expands the celebrated framework of civil disobedience by expanding the language of non-violent resistance by running it through the paradigm of semiotic democracy. I see it as being a solid lineage of ideas that are not only universally known, but most importantly, implementation of action can be universally accessible (in some cases assisted by technology, in other cases not necessarily so) on either the micro or macro scale.

Subversion of narratives is important for democracy as it can be a useful way to ask society to look twice at the message behind it.