#semiofest

[ecgdesign]

Me at Semiofest in Paris! 

[lofidelica]

HOW TO BECOME A SEMIOTICIAN: A DECALOGUE

presented at Semiofest 2012

Massimo Leone, Department of Philosophy, University of Turin 1. You shall study semiotics; choosing a good university course with a good teacher; reading books, articles, essays; going back to the classics, avoiding compendiums, readers, and also most online materials: they are not good (for the moment); 2. You shall practice semiotics; initially through purposeless analysis; through interpretation for the sake of interpretation; annoy your friends with semiotics; 3. You shall befriend other semioticians; meeting them regularly not only on the web, but also in congresses, symposia, colloquia; remember to celebrate semio-festivities; 4. You shall not turn semiotics into a rhetoric; semiotics’ purpose is to help other people to understand meaning, not to convince them that you understand it better than them; 5. You shall not turn semiotics into magic; semiotics is a discipline, one should be disciplined in learning and in practicing it; 6. You shall not turn semiotics into religion; semiotics is only one out of a multitude of options; respect other disciplines and ask respect from them; 7. You shall not turn semiotics into science; let’s face it: semiotics is part of the humanities; thank god meaning will never be ruled by the laws of necessity; 8. You shall not turn semiotics into mystery; if nobody understands you but other semioticians, you are a failure; 9. You shall not turn semiotics into bar conversation; if everybody appreciates you except other semioticians, you are a failure too; 10. You shall not be worried that your mother doesn’t understand what you do; most people who do new things have skeptical mothers.

(photo from Tim Stock's presentation on Semiotics and Framing Cultural Insights)