Reaction to "Chapter of Codes, Semiotics for Beginners" by Daniel Chandler

Chandler introduces a new vocabulary of reading and understanding the workings of semiotics. Primarily, he introduces the concept of semiotic codes, which "require familiarity with appropriate sets of conventions." Through the concepts of iconography, signs are used to generalize certain visual experiences and relate them to masses of people, in hopes of a utopian understanding of the icon. Codes, on the other hand, begin to inscribe meaning from the standpoints of logic, aesthetics and social. Our sense of reality is governed by these codes, building an environment of existence through a series of learned, nurtured actualizations. Codes declare that "all perceptual systems are already languages in their own right," and that, "perception depends on coding the world into iconic signs that can re-present it within our mind." Therefore, the code becomes the medium or media in which our 'vision' of reality is perceived, using tools such as iconography as a method of retrieving data through this shield of existence.

Visually, Chandler believes that organization of perception is based upon universal principles such as proximity, similarity, good continuation, closure, smallness, surroundedness, symmetry and pragnanz. These 'laws' of visual organization pose questions of human interaction with each-other and our built environment. If humanity has shifted towards visual stimulus as the main sensory response of learning, these codes therefore "help to simplify phenomena in order to make it easier to communicate experiences." Social codes then become an organized method of interaction via the verbal, the body, the commodities, and the behavioral. I believe these social codes shape our reality, both objectively and subjectively, thus making our perception of our existence an absurdity. In that, 'our' codes must and always correspond to "knowledge of: the world (social knowledge), the medium and the genre (textural knowledge), and the relationship between the (world) and the (medium)."

Semiotics can no longer be looked at as an objectified visual experience, in that of iconography and iconology. Rather, one must recognize that our perceptual reality is "a system of signs organized according to code and subcodes which reflect certain values, attitudes, beliefs, assumptions and practices." Thus, one must not recognize this reality described as a sort of determinism, but rather a socially-induced guideline or methodology to our species as humans. Every animal will develop similar practices in order to function as a biotic organism, rather I would like to recognize our system as a complexity, influenced by our humanity or living as a whole. Our choices as individuals are guided through these dynamic codes, in constant flux and reorganization. This movement represents your subjective relationship and influence to semiotic codes. Your part of building these codes determines our existence as a species.