Social Semiotics
What is social semiotics? Social semiotics is a branch of semiotics that focuses on human social interaction and culture. According to the book, Social Semiotics by Jeff Bezemer and Carey Jewitt, " It studies the media of dissemination and the modes of communication that people use and develop to represent their understanding of the world and to shape power relations with others" ( Bezemer, J & Jewitt, C ). The term was coined in 1978 by Michael Halliday in his book Language as a Social Semiotic. Social semiotics is important because it allows us to interpret language and meaning (Zoylan, S). Visuals are a semiotic form of communication. Visuals can be interpreted using some rules based on the placement of text or images, or information of visual data. The left side contains information that is familiar and accepted by the viewer. The right side contains new information and is a point of focus. Things at the top are considered essential or ideal while information at th...
