Applied Semiotics / Sémiotique appliquée

Semiotics and Political Discourse

2010-09-12T11:18:00.000-04:00

We're pleased to announce that the twenty-fifth issue of AS/SA is now live. Its theme is the Semiotics of political discourse, and its URL is
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/french/as-sa/ASSA-No25/index.html .

Enjoy!

AS/SA No 24 is Live

2010-03-25T06:43:00.002-04:00

Professor João Queiroz of UFJF Brazil has put together an excellent new issue as guest editor. Featured are some of the world's leading semiotics scholars. The issue is devoted to the problem of culture in translation.

Enjoy!

Dr Marteinson Invited to Join Editorial Board of Comedy Studies Journal

2009-08-27T11:51:00.000-04:00

We are pleased to announce that Dr Marteinson has been invited by Prof. Chris Ritchie (Southampton Solent University) to be a member
of the Editorial Board of the new scholarly review Comedy Studies at that UK university.

He will continue to edit AS/SA while contributing to the success of this new endeavour on the study of comedy as it is known in today's popular culture.

Congratulations to Dr Marteinson, Dr Ritchie and the Board at CS.

AS/SA No. 21 is live

2008-09-15T07:59:00.003-04:00

The Fall Issue of Applied Semiotics / Sémiotique appliquée is now available. Devoted to the problem of the cultural intension, it features articles by Mohammed Thawabteh, Fee A. Haase, Danielle Dubroca Galin, and Scott Schönfeldt-Aultman.

New Article & Author Hyperindexes

2008-02-15T17:07:00.001-05:00

We are proud to announce the completion of a major project: to collect and compile all important links to the research published on AS/SA since 1995, in html and pdf format, all on a single web page, sortable by chronological appearance or alphabetically by author's last name:

Author Index (Alphabetical):

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/french/as-sa/aut.table.html

Article Index (Chronological):

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/french/as-sa/art.table.html

Not only are they complete, and carefully corrected, but we have also included the academic abstract of each article in a mouseover text box that pops up when you place your mouse over any [pdf] or [html] link. Try it!

Issues 1-12 Now Live in Free PDF Format

2007-06-19T21:02:00.000-04:00

Good news-- we've now made the first two-thirds of our existing AS/SA Issues, from 1 to 12, available online in PDF format matching the pagination of the new Print Edition. You can gain access to these files by visiting the existing home page for each issue of AS/SA. All PDF files are available without charge, as always. We don't do it for the money, it's just our way of helping further academic research in the area of semiotics.

AS/SA No 18 is online

2006-12-04T18:15:00.001-05:00

We are pleased to announce that the December 2006 issue, "Documenting Collective Beliefs" is live online as of today. Scholarly contributions by researchers in all related fields are invited for the upcoming issues.

Final Call for Papers : No 18, "Documenting Collective Belief"

2006-11-12T17:33:00.000-05:00

This is the final call for papers for the upcoming December 2006 issue of Applied Semiotics / Sémiotique appliquée, entitled "Documenting Collective Belief". Researchers are invited to submit articles in this and all other areas of semiotics.

AS/SA No 17 is live

2006-07-10T15:06:00.000-04:00

We are pleased to announce that Issue No. 17, dedicated to Religious and Ideological texts, is now online (see our homepage via link to the left of this column). All researchers are invited to submit articles on semiotics in any area for our upcoming issue(s).

AS/SA No. 17: Call for Papers

2005-12-20T15:11:00.000-05:00

"Semiotics of Religious Texts (Last Call)"
All researchers are invited to submit articles on this subject for Issue No. 17, scheduled for release in Summer 2006.

Invitation for Forum Comments

2005-11-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

One of the reasons behind the creation of this weblog is that we hope to invite comments and discussions about the journal and the topics raised by the research published there. We therefore invite visitors to post comments on anything at all that is related to AS/SA, and will be happy to create new posts on the topics you suggest and which we find are likely to be of interest to other readers. With thanks, the Editors.

Final Call for Papers (AS/SA No 16, Dec. 2005)

2005-10-24T15:36:00.000-04:00

We have received numerous articles for this winter's new issue, and have selected 9 for publication in two months' time (both online and in the new print edition). This is the last call for papers for that issue (the deadline for submissions of articles, with abstracts, is November 15, 2005). All researchers are invited to send articles on semiotics. The issue is tentatively titled "Critical Inquiry and Human Understanding".

Print Edition Now Launched

2005-10-21T02:19:00.000-04:00

We're pleased to say that the new Print Edition is now available. For more information, click on the appropriate link to the left of your screen. Volume 1 (Nos 1-3) can now be ordered online or by fax (for institutions only), and Volume 2 (Nos 4-5) should be ready before the end of the month. We plan to release Volumes 3-6 over the winter season. Enjoy!

AS/SA Print Edition - Coming Soon

2005-09-25T18:36:00.000-04:00

We are delighted to announce that soon our review will exist both online and in print. We are currently working hard on its preparation. (This is one of the reasons you now see "PDF" files available for the first several issues.) The process involves carefully preparing and type-setting the articles, which remain in their original form from an academic standpoint, and of course, as a courtesy and to avoid copyright issues, we are currently in the process of asking each of our contributors for their consent to include their articles in the upcoming print series.

Volumes one and two, covering Issues 1-3 and 4-5 respectively, will be out in mid-October or shortly thereafter, pending permissions, and by this winter, we hope to have volumes 3-6 available as well. That should bring us in sync with the online version. From then on, each issue will appear in both media.

In keeping with our philosophy, which is to do our best to provide a democratic, free and open publication, the print edition will be available from a high-quality digital print-on-demand publisher in the US. This way, a copy will be rapidly created only for those individuals and institutions who would like one. We feel this is both efficient and environmentally sound. Our costs will also remain significantly lower than traditional academic print publications.

More news on this new edition coming soon.

Nouvelle édition imprimée à paraître

2005-09-25T18:03:00.000-04:00

Nous sommes tout particulièrement heureux de vous annoncer la création d'une nouvelle édition imprimée de notre revue. (C'est la raison pour laquelle vous constatez que nous avons ajouté des fichiers PDF à plusieurs de nos premiers numéros.) La préparation de cette nouvelle édition comprend la création et la mise en page de la forme PDF de chaque article, ainsi que le devoir de demander et de recevoir l'accord de chacun de nos contributeurs avant inclure leurs articles sur la version imprimée. C'est ce que nous sommes actuellement en train de faire.

Les volumes 1 (Nos 1-3) et 2 (Nos 4-5) sortiront vraisemblablement d'ici quelques semaines (après avoir reçu la permission des auteur-e-s), et nous espérons que les volumes 3-5 seront disponibles cet hiver. Ainsi, les deux mediums seront synchronisés, et chaque nouveau numéro de la revue paraîtra et sur Internet et à l'imprimé.

Notre philosophie a toujours été d'essayer de vous offrir une revue démocratique, gratuite, et ouverte: pour cette raison les volumes seront imprimés au fur et à mesure que les lecteurs les commanderont, en profitant d'une nouvelle technologie numérique "imprimer sur demande" disponible chez une maison d'édition américaine. Ainsi le prix de nos volumes sera menu comparé à celui des revues académiques traditionnelles, et nous continuerons à faire notre part pour protéger l'environnement en faisant l'économie de copies superflues.

Nous vous tiendrons au courant ici, sur ce blog.

AS/SA, now featuring RSS

2005-04-25T17:33:00.000-04:00

As your editors we are always on the lookout for ways to increase the visibility and accessibility of our publication, and of the research contributed by our authors.

This was the rationale behind creating an XML file designed to inform your browser (if you decide to subscribe) whenever a new issue of AS/SA comes out. Called "Really Simple Syndication", this technology is sweeping the Internet this year both because it is so easy to install and use, and because it is so very elegant and useful despite this simplicity.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5, however, is somewhat behind the times and does not come equipped to utilize RSS technology. We suggest using Safari, if you are a Mac user, or Mozilla Firefox for the majority, who use Windows (although Firefox is a cross-platform browser that works anywhere). Once you install Firefox, simply visit our home page and click on the orange icon to the bottom right. From then on, your bookmarks will feature a tab for our review, and it will update itself whenever we release a new issue. Simple, isn't it?

Firefox is free, faster and more secure than any other browser available for windows, save perhaps Opera, which is also very good.

For more information on what RSS actually is, visit this page.

AS/SA a désormais un "flux RSS"

2005-04-25T15:35:00.000-04:00

Vos Rédacteurs sont toujours à la recherche de nouvelles façons de garantir une plus grande diffusion pour la revue et pour les excellents articles que nous envoient nos contributeurs.

C'est la raison de notre adoption de la nouvelle technologie RSS ("Really Simple Syndication" en anglais), ce qui nous permet, en créant un fichier XML particulier, d'avertir votre navigateur chaque fois qu'un numéro de AS/SA paraît sur Internet.

Internet Explorer de Microsoft, pourtant, un logiciel daté, a été conçu avant l'invention et l'adoption du système RSS. Pour en profiter, nous vous suggérons (si vous n'utilisez pas Mac Safari) de télécharger un meilleur navigateur, plus rapide et plus sûr, nommé Firefox, créé par la fondation Mozilla. Opera est aussi un bon choix pour ceux qui ont Windows.

Une fois Firefox installé, vous n'avez qu'à visiter notre page d'accueil et à cliquer sur l'icône orange en bas de votre navigateur, créant ainsi dans votre browser un signet qui se mettra à jour chaque fois que nous sortons un nouveau numéro.

Pour plus d'informations sur cette technologie RSS, visitez ce site.

AS/SA preserved on "LOCKSS" at Harvard

2005-02-26T14:04:00.000-05:00

The fine folks at Harvard and Stanford have invited us to take part in a new initiative designed to preserve more permanently a selection of the Internet's academic pubishing: the "LOCKSS" project. The name is an acronym for "Lots of copies keep stuff safe," and involves an extensive network of servers, mirrors and backups all organized by the illustrious American Ivory Tower college. Naturally, we were flattered and pleased to accept.

For more information on what LOCKSS is, please visit Stanford's explanation of its origins at this site hosted by the American Digital Library Federation.

AS/SA préservé sur "LOCKSS" à Harvard

2005-02-26T13:11:00.000-05:00

Nos excellents collègues à Harvard et à Stanford nous ont invité à participer au projet "LOCKSS", acronyme de la phrase anglaise "Lots of copies keeps stuff safe" (ce qui veut dire, beaucoup de copies garantissent la sécurité), une initiative destinée à sauvegarder une sélection de sites Internet consacrés à la recherche. Naturellement nous étions ravis d'accepter. Ce mois, Harvard a confirmé que ça allait pour les fichiers d'indexation de AS/SA. On est dans LOCKSS maintenant, ce qui nous donne des miroirs exacts de notre site un peu partout.

Pour plus d'informations sur ce projet LOCKSS, il suffit de visiter ce site à Stanford ce site (en anglais).

Full article web pages introduced

2002-06-07T16:47:00.000-04:00

With Issue No 11/12, we have implemented a long-brewing idea: to post each article as a single web page, with virtual "page breaks" along each html file to allow for more intuitive citation of our contributor's work. While this means each article takes longer to load, it seems that today's 28.8 kbps and 56 kbps modems can handle the traffic.

We have also implemented more recent html for our dashes, using the code #151 instead of a double-underline raised as a superscript. The former solution looked all right, but it was only an interim measure.

We hope quoting the articles won't be complicated by the new format, whose pages are now quite impalpable.

As always, your suggestions on the medium and content of AS/SA are welcome. Please keep in mind, however, that it has always been our credo to keep the code simple and functional, and to eschew most of the bells and whistles that make so many of today's web pages "dynamic" yet cumbersome.

AS/SA No. 8, an all-Israeli affair

1999-12-16T15:35:00.000-05:00

Susanne Feigenbaum of the University of Haïfa was the one to approach us, while Peter Marteinson was professor on a definite term contract at the University of Waterloo, regarding the publication of the acts of this fine semiotics colloquium in the Holy Land. Dedicated to the memory of Claude Gandelman, and to an area he cherished, the semiotics of the visible, the issue features some of the finest and most academically stimulating contributions yet.

Thanks and well done, Susanne!

Our only slight regret is that it was only an "all-Israeli" issue. It might have been even better if it had instead been an "all-Israel" issue, as then it would have been able to include one of our favourite scholars, Itamar Even-Zohar of Tel Aviv University.

Nevertheless, it's a fine piece of academic publishing, thanks to all the Israeli colleagues who did participate.

HTML and our Academic Publishing on the Web

1998-07-04T16:23:00.000-04:00

AS/SA continues to receive the kind support of contributors and readers from many countries, some of whom have kindly sent us their suggestions regarding the way we are using the medium.

We have also been active in our observation of the way the protocol is developing, and are now experimenting with improvements to the way we use hypertext markup language.

You might notice we are now including justification, so that both right and left margins are clean and orderly both on screen and when our pages are printed, as well as such minor changes as distinguishing typographically between hyphens and dashes, and various new styles for improving the usefulness of our footnotes.

One more thing we haven't yet tried is professor Itamar Even-Zohar's suggestion that each article consist of a single web page. It's a good idea — though we plan to delay implementing it until we are more confident that our own web server, as well as those in far away reaches of the globe, are fast enough to make such files practicable (and there is also the consideration of average modem speed for our readers).

We are always happy to receive your suggestions on these and all other aspects of the review.

Eero Tarasti at the helm of AS/SA No. 4

1997-12-29T16:15:00.000-05:00

When we first agreed to follow a suggestion by Paul Perron to invite Eero Tarasti to be Guest Editor of an issue devoted to Music Semiotics, we had no idea it would turn out to be one of the journal's most popular issues.

Judging from our "hit" counter, this issue (featuring the Guest Editor, Robert Hatten, Michael Spitzer, Raymond Monelle, Marta Grabocz, Raphaël Brunner and Erkki Pekkilä), already one of our favourites, has become a pretty big hit with our readers around the world.

No. 3 with Anne Übersfeld

1997-03-03T16:03:00.000-05:00

Fortune smiles upon the ready (and the lucky). A series of fortuitous serendipidies have come together not only to allow AS/SA to continue to grow, but to improve and flourish: While composing his doctoral thesis, studying in Paris on a special student exchange at the famous Ecole normale supérieure, Co-Editor Peter Marteinson was lucky enough to find that one of his two thesis directors, Prof. Paul Perron, would be there on sabbatical as well.

Prof. Perron and his wife kindly invited Peter to their apartment for dinner on more than one occasion (he is a superb chef), where one evening he was fortunate to meet Dr Anne Übersfeld (Univ. Paris III), who shares Peter Marteinson's interest in the theatre. After an enjoyable conversation, she kindly agreed to supervise an issue devoted to Theatre semiotics, and to write its introductory editorial.

Naturally, Pascal Michelucci's role as Co-Editor was in no way diminished: he and Peter further developed their system for working together over the waves of the web to prepare the current issue.

Issue No 2, an all-Québécois project

1996-11-17T15:33:00.000-05:00

When Professor Louis Hébert proposed the idea of publishing the acts of the 1996 second annual colloquium of the Société sémiotique du Québec organised under the auspices of the Association Canadienne-française pour l'Avancement des Sciences as our second issue, we were only too pleased to accept.

The issue features articles by Louis H&eactue;bert, Jean Fisette, Christine Portelance, Ghislain Bourque, Noëlle Sorin, Richard Dubois, Lucie Roy and Chantale Boulanger.

Having two very good issues out now, and seeing from our counter that we are indeed receiving an increasing number of visits, we are now more confident that the project is actually off the ground.

Issue No 1 is published

1996-03-15T15:26:00.000-05:00

We are pleased, after several months of hard work in preparation, finally to announce the appearance of Issue No. 1 on our home page on the CHASS server at the University of Toronto.

Excellent articles were kindly submitted by Tamara Nazarova (Moscow State University), Paul Perron and Marcel Danesi (University of Toronto), and Itamar Even-Zohar (Tel Aviv University).

The server is not very fast, but our review is now available to scholars all over the world.

Un excellent comité de lecture accepte de soutenir AS/SA

1995-12-29T14:24:00.000-05:00

Nous sommes heureux, après avoir invité 43 des professeur-e-s les plus illustres du monde de la sémiotique, de constater que la vaste majorité a immédiatement accepté d'être membres de notre comité de lecture.

Voici les noms et les affiliations des excellents chercheurs et chercheuses qui auront la gentillesse de lire, d'évaluer et de critiquer les articles soumis à AS/SA:

ADAM, Jean-Michel (Université de Lausanne)
BOUISSAC, Paul (University of Toronto)
BOURASSA, Lucie (Univ. de Montréal)
CHATMAN, Seymour (UC Berkeley)
COUTURIER, Maurice (CRELA/Nice)
CULLER, Jonathan (Cornell University)
DOLEZEL, Lubomir (Univ. of Toronto)
ELKABAS, Charles (Univ. of Toronto)
EVEN-ZOHAR, Itamar (Tel Aviv University)
FONTANILLE, Jacques (U. de Limoges)
GERVAIS, Bertrand (UQAM)
HÉBERT, Louis (U.Québec à Rimouski)
HENDERSON, Greig (University of Toronto)
KEANE-GREIMAS, Teresa (Limoges)
KLINKENBERG, Jean-Marie (Liège)
LEBLANC, Julie (University of Toronto)
LE HUENEN, Roland (University of Toronto)
LORD, Michel (University of Toronto)* membre plus récent
MAINGUENEAU, Dominique (Picardie)
MILLER, Owen (University of Toronto)
MITTERAND, Henri (Columbia)
MOLINIÉ, Georges (Paris IV-Sorbonne)
NESSELROTH, Peter (University of Toronto)
OLIVER, Andrew (University of Toronto)
OUELLET, Pierre (UQAM)
PATERSON, Janet (Univ. of Toronto)
PERRON, Paul (University of Toronto)
PRINCE, Gerald (U. of Pennsylvania)
RASTIER, François (INaLF, CNRS)
RIFFATERRE, Michael (Columbia)
SANCIER, Anne (Université Lyon III)
SEBEOK, Thomas A. (Indiana U., Institute for Advanced Studies Budapest)
SCHOLES, Robert (Brown University)
TARASTI, Eero (University of Helsinki)
THÉRIEN, Gilles (UQAM)
TOOLAN, Michael (University of Birmingham)
TROTT, David (University of Toronto)
ÜBERSFELD, Anne (Univ. Paris III)
VAILLANCOURT, Daniel (University of Western Ontario)
VANDENDORPE, Christian (Ottawa)
VERNESCU, Flavia (University of Northern Iowa)
WOOLDRIDGE, Russon (University of Toronto)

Les seuls personnes qui n'ont pas pu accepter notre invitation, étant déjà membres de nombre de comités pareils, sont Linda Hutcheon et Umberto Eco. Nous comprenons parfaitement, ça ne fait rien — on va tout simplement devoir les inviter à nouveau dans quelques années, lorsque la revue aura un peu plus de "standing"!

A superb Advisory Board accepts our invitation to join AS/SA

1995-12-29T14:00:00.000-05:00

We are delighted, after having invited 43 of the world's most eminent semiotics researchers to support the AS/SA project by joining our advisory board, that nearly all the people we asked accepted immediately.

Here are the names and affiliations of the fine scholars that will be kindly reading, evaluating and critiquing submissions to the review:

ADAM, Jean-Michel (Université de Lausanne)
BOUISSAC, Paul (University of Toronto)
BOURASSA, Lucie (Univ. de Montréal)
CHATMAN, Seymour (UC Berkeley)
COUTURIER, Maurice (CRELA/Nice)
CULLER, Jonathan (Cornell University)
DOLEZEL, Lubomir (Univ. of Toronto)
ELKABAS, Charles (Univ. of Toronto)
EVEN-ZOHAR, Itamar (Tel Aviv University)
FONTANILLE, Jacques (U. de Limoges)
GERVAIS, Bertrand (UQAM)
HÉBERT, Louis (U.Québec à Rimouski)
HENDERSON, Greig (University of Toronto)
KEANE-GREIMAS, Teresa (Limoges)
KLINKENBERG, Jean-Marie (Liège)
LEBLANC, Julie (University of Toronto)
LE HUENEN, Roland (University of Toronto)
LORD, Michel (University of Toronto)* joined later.
MAINGUENEAU, Dominique (Picardie)
MILLER, Owen (University of Toronto)
MITTERAND, Henri (Columbia)
MOLINIÉ, Georges (Paris IV-Sorbonne)
NESSELROTH, Peter (University of Toronto)
OLIVER, Andrew (University of Toronto)
OUELLET, Pierre (UQAM)
PATERSON, Janet (Univ. of Toronto)
PERRON, Paul (University of Toronto)
PRINCE, Gerald (U. of Pennsylvania)
RASTIER, François (INaLF, CNRS)
RIFFATERRE, Michael (Columbia)
SANCIER, Anne (Université Lyon III)
SEBEOK, Thomas A. (Indiana U., Institute for Advanced Studies Budapest)
SCHOLES, Robert (Brown University)
TARASTI, Eero (University of Helsinki)
THÉRIEN, Gilles (UQAM)
TOOLAN, Michael (University of Birmingham)
TROTT, David (University of Toronto)
ÜBERSFELD, Anne (Univ. Paris III)
VAILLANCOURT, Daniel (University of Western Ontario)
VANDENDORPE, Christian (Ottawa)
VERNESCU, Flavia (University of Northern Iowa)
WOOLDRIDGE, Russon (University of Toronto)

The only people who very politely declined, as they were already members of such boards and had too many commitments at this time, were Linda Hutcheon and Umberto Eco. We understand, and harbour no hard feelings — we'll ask them again in ten years or so, when our journal has gained wider acceptance.

Qu'est-ce que AS/SA?

1995-12-17T13:25:00.000-05:00

Applied Semiotics / Sémiotique appliquée est la première revue conçue de la première à la dernière ligne sur support électronique au département de français de l'université de Toronto.

Son premier numéro paraîtra au mois de mars 1996 sur le site

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/french/as-sa/index-f.html.

La philosophie de notre revue s'exprime dans son mandat:

"Promouvoir la diffusion de la recherche pratique en sémiotique, tant en français qu'en anglais, à l'aide des nouvelles possibilités de publication ouvertes par Internet.

"Faire avancer une investigation qui s'écarte de préoccupations purement abstraites, théoriques ou subjectives : la réflexion sur des problèmes concrets et l'analyse de phénomènes observables apportant nécessairement un questionnement implicite des fondements de la science, la sémiotique appliquée est ici considérée dans son sens le plus large — comme un exercice convoquant toute étude de processus communicationnels et signifiants particuliers observables dans des textes littéraires (ou autres) réels."

L'idée c'est de sortir des sentiers battus de la publication savante, notamment en faisant l'économie de l'imprimé et en promouvant un nouveau medium qui, nous en sommes persuadés, est appelé à devenir l'agora intellectuelle de demain.

Nous tenons à remercier deux professeurs dont le soutien et les conseils ont été indispensables (surtout lorsque l'on considère que le journal a été proposé par deux doctorants): il s'agit de MM. Paul Perron, chef du département de français, et Ron Davis, webmestre de son nouveau site Internet.

What is AS/SA?

1995-12-17T13:17:00.000-05:00

Applied Semiotics / Sémiotique appliquée is the first refereed academic journal the University of Toronto's Department of French has conceived wholly on-line. Devoted to practical research on Semiotics (the science of signs, their identification and the analysis of the laws describing their agency), the journal appears in English and French, exclusively on the web.

The first issue is scheduled for publication in the spring of 1996 at the URL
www.chass.utoronto.ca/french/as-sa/.

The philosophy of the review can best be expressed by its mandate:

"To promote practical research on semiotics, in English and in French, by taking full advantage of the World Wide Web as a publication medium.

"To advance concrete investigation, rather than purely abstract, theoretical or subjective efforts; for although the study of observable phenomena and concrete problems necessarily implies an examination of the theoretical foundations of this discipline, applied semiotics is considered here to encompass research on communicative structures and processes observable in actual literary (or other) texts."

The idea is to create a democratic, open, free and efficient new paradigm for the publication of academic research.

A special thanks goes out to two individuals without whose steadfast support and enthusiastic counsel our journal might never have happened (especially considering it has been created by two doctoral candidates): Professors Paul Perron, Head of French, and Ron Davis, Webmaster of our new departmental Internet site.