Social Semiotics

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 Social Semiotics 

Social Semiotics includes multiple modes of visual communication that convey meaning. There's a wide variety of visual communication including images, texts, symbols, etc. Social Semiotics was developed by Michael Halliday focusing on language as a social resource for meaning making known as functional linguistics. The person who actually introduced the visual communication aspect with these ideas was Gunther Kress. Social semiotics is important because it uses visual images to emphasize the role of social context. Visual communication is also incorporated to prove a point of an argument. For example, stated in chapter 5 "Analyzing and Using Visual Arguments" there are 5 types of visual arguments such as "advertisements, editorial cartoons, which uses captions and dialogue to make their argument, public sculpture, news photographs, and graphics which include tables, charts, graphs, photographs and drawings (Crusius).

There are some things that we have to consider when analyzing visual communication. For example, when we look at images, we know that they are set in a way to convey meaning, but how can we analyze an image to interpret what it means?
When we look at the top of an image, it usually illustrates what is imagined, whereas the bottom of an image portrays the reality, facts and overall, what we know. 

For example, in this image we see a beautiful blue starry night sky with shooting stars and clouds at the top of the image. We imagine that this is what the sky is going to look like when we walk this path. At the bottom, we see the sand path. This is the reality of the image because the path will always be there, but you won't see a sky like this during the day or see the same sky other nights. 



When we analyze horizonal images, at the left is what is known and contains given information. At the right of the image, we see new unknown information. This is known as horizontal positioning. In this image, we see a mountain to the left. This represents known information because the mountain is always there. To the right of the image, we see a van and 2 people viewing the scenery. This represents new information because the people were not always there. This photo illustrates natures beauty, and anyone can stop by to see it.



Resources

Crusius, T., & Channell, C. (2016). The aims of argument: A text and reader (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Educatio

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