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Subject: RE: [humanmarkup-comment] Our Next Meeting
Requested response to: At 04:17 PM 16-07-2002 -0500, Len wrote: >... I was adjusting the content model: > ><!ELEMENT sign (sign*, signifier, signified+, referent) > ><!ATTRIBUTE sign > id ID #REQUIRED > type (symbol | icon | index) #REQUIRED > > >A signifier may be associated with multiple signifieds. >That may be a place to put context modifiers. ...[where as ATTRIBUTE?] >type indicates a relationship between signifier and >signified, does it apply to all of the possible >signifieds? If that is so, then we should go at >this one again. ... > >Also, a sign and a signifier are essentially the same >thing, yes, so we could drop that or use it as a >container for representations (eg, refer to pictures >of images) for cases where we know a sign can have >multiple forms. > >Comments? Here's one initial reaction: Markup assists a communication process between agents. Let us term any "signing agent", whether sender or receiver, a SEMIOTE. Then explicitly, HUML markup is to aid accurate transfer of meaning in this particular communicative semiosis process. SEMIOTEi -- markedup signal --> SEMIOTEj Adopting the Kleene star again to allow for possible multiplicity of participants would give something on the order of: SEMIOTEi* -- markedup signal-complex --> SEMIOTEj* There has ever been the possibility of multiple listeners and speakers. The arrow has implications of temporality as well as channel. Each SEMIOTE acts within a [geo]temporal context, which is to admit that this process takes place in the real world, a matter that we have to deal with rather more specifically perhaps than semiotics has to date. (If the SEMIOTE does not act, there is no communication.) The signal transmission is also contextually bound. It is not necessarily lossless nor adsorptive in any given case. Adding context to each component of the description explicitly yields something like this: (SEMIOTEi - in context)* -- (marked up signals transmitted - in context)* --> (SEMIOTEj - in context)* In more detail, there is genesis of the signals: (contextual stimuli)* X (SEMIOTEi) --> reactive interpretation with emission of signal-complexes at [geolocations and] time(s) A in media M complexes include signs: patterns, which may be traditional in context inadvertent and advertent [intentionalities] (The indented features might be rendered as "attributes".) We add to this unadorned process: markup described (parsed?) portions of the signal-complex attribute markings (right?) additions, like ID for convenience Those [marked up] emitted signal-complexes get conveyed between SEMIOTES: signal-complex with optional markup travels between SEMIOTES thru channel(s) - in context(s) at geolocations and times B >= A undergoing possible transformation (loss, aggregation, mutation) becomes part of the context for receiver(s) with capacity to do semiotic processing, i.e., SEMIOTESj All told, the semiosis we would seem to need to describe includes our own enhancement, a signal transmission, and context at every step. Of a SEMIOTE we may or may not need to explicitly include, for HUML purposes, detail of stimuli being both external and internal, of what I've called above "reactive interpretation" and Len has included as ineluctable effect. Some of this effect we might consider primary in that it yields the signal-complex requisite for the communicating we model. When the effect of a SEMIOTE's signaling is re-absorbed we have the idempotent case of "reflexion", where SEMIOTEi communicates with SEMIOTEi itself. But it is rather much for HUML to try to model all psychology, as Len says! There seem to be these two sequenced components in our semiosis model, having this nature: o SEMIOTEi X context o transmittable signal-complex X context To handle context at every stage, Len's idea of bundling CONTAINERS along with components seems quite well-reasoned. Our criterion for design, in this framework, is that good HUML markup lets the receiver accurately interpret (comprehend) the reaction to stimuli by the sending SEMIOTE. Our additions should not distort the signals. The critical gap we may need to fill involves mismatch of communicant SEMIOTEs' current contexts. Presumably the "referents" reside in those contexts. Put in practice, we may also face issues related to transformation of signal-complexes as they pass thru channels that convert them to different media. (Will the attributes characterizing the stream need to be transformed also?) Also, I'm not convinced at this point that a signal-complex can be neatly characterized as signs, nor helpfully distinguished as icon vs. symbol vs. index, perhaps because I've been thinking more in terms of token. Signifier seems like a real good term, implying process. And, as noted, Len's idea of treating things as CONTAINERS might be just the ticket for including contexts. SC Other reactions?
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