Freewrite Assignment #2

What most interested me in the studies of signs in place is how we can label every sign by a symbol, icon, index or a combination of them. I found this interesting because I enjoyed deeply analyzing what the interpretation of each sign and matching it to its given term. I found it beneficial to use this new knowledge and apply it to interpreting everyday signs I see daily.

The research that I enjoyed most thus far this semester has to be for sure the semiotic/rhetorical analysis of ads. It was a useful tool to break up apart the meaning behind an advertisement and reflect upon how it used semiotics to relay the viewer a message. I liked looking or watching ads and then discussing the rhetorical analysis behind them, very interesting and helpful for further researching.

One bid idea question related to public space, inclusion, and exclusion that has emerged to me this semester that I would like to think more about is on the issues of surveillance. I would want to research the breakdown on the advantages and disadvantages of using security cameras on the streets and in public/private buildings. I want to see what the majority of the people think dealing with the question is surveillance an efficient tool to keep people safe without the sacrifice of people’s privacy.

A specific site of interest to me is how people who are homeless are treated on the streets in the downtown area of Syracuse. Since I see the problem of excess homeless people around my campus and since they have become a sight to my daily routine, I would want to further research multiple questions behind them. Such as interesting questions as, how much money they get a day, how long have they been homeless, why are they homeless, are they really homeless or is it an act to get free support? I would want to ask questions that no one has before to conclude interesting results about homeless people’s lives.

One idea I have for a research project would be the fact that surveillance in areas of public space is a necessary tool to keep crime down, even with the sacrifice of people’s privacy needs. I would want to give all the perspectives of people for and against this issue and see if excess security cameras really work in depleting crime and mischief. Another idea I have would be looking at the statistical data of homeless people, such as average age, daily money flow, what do they use the money for, male or female, what ethnicity is most homeless, etc. I would take that data and research where the areas are that most homeless people are and find their side of life opposed and how they feel when people look at them opposed to how the public views them. Another idea would be something dealing with the rhetorical analysis of advertisements and how the design and showing of them is key to relaying their message to viewers. I think what interests me most about all these issues is the research that can be done to give facts about these topics then use those facts, along with what I’ve learned in this unit to create a complex analysis on what these results “mean.”

page 66 assignment

There are 5 different types of perceptual spaces, visual, auditory, olfactory, thermal, and haptic (or tactile). Visual can be interpreted as simply however you see something in a space, a sign, mural, etc. It is the most common type of perceptual space because seeing something is the first sense you initiate. Auditory is dealt with hearing and how the vision through hearing something can reflect the way you interpret something. Example, you can hear something, but not particularly visually see it yet. Olfactory is the third type is your sense of smell. Smelling something can make you buy a certain product over anything or even interpret how you stereotype a certain person (on how the smell). Thermal deals with how temperatures can influence daily activities, such as how we dress. Tactile is the last type of perceptual space and is our sense of touch. Each type of space can be represented and matched with certain types of social relationships. This depends on the person’s personality and how they “look” at things and practice semiotics towards them. Each type of space can go with each type of social relationship I think and I think it depends on people’s interpretation of things and how they work their 5 senses together to analyze semiotics in space.

I found this sign in the men’s bathroom on the third floor of link. On the third floor is where research is done, and the sign should read “do not dispose of seaweed…” I think this is “transgressive” because it doesn’t belong and the sign was violated by someone to read something inappropriate giving it an inaccurate meaning. My guess is some student thought it would be funny to tamper with the sign for a comical reasoning. It’s a “transgressive” sight to see walking into the bathroom, but I don’t see this act as such a violation to law, etc. I think the public determines if this is a particular sign of “transgressive” because that is who is seeing this everyday and if someone card that much, they could easily tear down the sign themselves. There has been no public uproar from this sign because to the simple fact that it is harmless and probably was done for laughs. In conclusion, after researching upon these “transgressive” semiotics, I became very interested in what they mean and how they are illustrated/interpreted in society. I hope to further learn and analyze semiotics in public space.