Semiotics, Technology and Society

About

The advancement of automated technologies, combined with societies’ needs to rapidly adapt, have brought about frantic discourses of anxiety about the state of the world and its possible future(s). The problematic impact of technology on society is widely discussed in Science and Technology Studies (STS). In the context of (generative) AI, the environmental impact of technologies is starting to become integral to certain public and academic debates.

Semiotics is uniquely positioned to provide historical and cultural contextualization for current technologies and their impact on society and environment. Semiotics also offers tools to critically assess the discourses articulating related epistemic and ontological challenges. Semiotics addresses the abstract, mental dimension of human and non-human life. At the same time, any semiotic activity is inevitably grounded in embodied materiality, leading to significant impact and consequences on the material, factual world. We will investigate how these sides come together, form the context for and impact various trends in the contemporary world

The course provides insights into various theories and applications popular in cultural and ecosemiotics, STS and environmental humanities, relating them to current and pressing technological, political and environmental issues. In a practical line, the course trains the skills of academic concept and proposal formulation and introduces students to research methodologies, particularly multimodal discourse analysis through several intensive workshops. Additionally, we will take walks through the cultural and heritage landscapes of Tartu and Estonia.

Course leader

Auli Viidalepp, Research Fellow in Semiotics at the University of Tartu

Target group

MA/PhD/Advanced BA and independent researchers are welcome

Course aim

Upon successful completion of the course, the students are able to:

1. Understand the key concepts of semiotics, science and technology studies, and environmental humanities
2. Grasp the main issues related to AI technologies and other complex technical systems
3. Critically assess current debates on technology, society and environment
4. Draft a feasible and politically relevant research plan related to the topics of the course
5. Contextualise their experience and learning with the natural and cultural environments of Estonia

Fee info