Editorial
Shadows, mirrors, and smoke screens: zooming on iconicity
By Christina Ljungberg
Iconicity is one of the semiotic concepts introduced by Charles Sanders Peirce that has been recently attracting much attention across the disciplines. In neuroscience, the discovery of mirror neurons has revived the interest in iconicity, although the issue remains problematic. Read more...
World Report
Cultural Semiotics at Nanjing, P.R. China
By Richard L. Lanigan
Sun Yat Sen Monument, Nanjing The International Institute of Semiotic Studies (IISS) at Nanjing Normal University (NNU) hosted a meeting of scholars from all over the world on November 15 to 17, 2008. Read more...
World Report
ICOS 2007: International Conference on Organisational Semiotics
By John Connolly
ICOS 2007, which took place Sheffield Hallam University from 24th to 26th July 2007, was the tenth in a series of international events devoted to research in Organisational Semiotics. The main theme of the 2007 conference was Complexity in Organisational and Technological Systems. Read more...

Papers from the Nanjing International Symposium on Cultural Semiotics and the 8th Annual Conference of China for Linguistic and Semiotic Studies (Nov. 15-17, 2008) will be published in the first issue of Chinese Semiotic Studies (June 30th 2009). Please find more information on this new journal here.

State of the Art
Animal Culture: how much culture is there in nature, and what is it about?
By Carel van Schaik
This is not an animal experiment. It is a video montage by artist Enam Huque.

Culture has traditionally been considered a major dividing line between humans and animals. This position has stood largely unchallenged until the 1990s. How is it that the oppositions raised by some zoologists (going back as far as the early 1950s) have gone unheard?

Read more...
Semiotic Profile
The Networked Individual: A Profile of Barry Wellman
By Bernie Hogan
Barry Wellman's career has been dedicated to advancing social network analysis in the study of social processes, including the diffusion of ideas and tastes, the provision of support and the way individuals employ new technologies to maintain connections and spread ideas. Read more...

We are pleased to announce an international conference on Iconicity, organized by the European Research Group on Iconicity in Language and Literature, in collaboration with the Toronto Semiotic Circle. It will take place at Victoria College, University of Toronto, June 9-14, 2009. More information can be obtained from Open Semiotics Resource Centre and the Iconicity webpage.

Guest Column
Probing Ancient Landscapes: the semiotics of space, water, and fire
By Andrea Vianello
Professor Dragos Gheorghiu, of the National University of Arts of Bucharest, is pioneering research in the field of experimental archeology. His project is part of what is increasingly known as the archaeology/anthropology of perceptions/senses. Read more...
World Report
33rd Annual Meeting of the Semiotic Society of America
By Paul Cobley
The 33rd annual meeting of the Semiotic Society of America, ‘Specialization, semiosis, semiotics’, took place, this year, entirely in a hotel. It is a measure of the conference’s success that the main complaint I heard was that there was too little time and that the conference was too short. Read more...
The Treasure Chest
The Life and Death of Signs
By Paul Bouissac
Archaeology is a natural domain of exploration for semiotics. Forensics and taphonomy are semiotic endeavors par excellence. But the whole archaeological enterprise that ultimately confronts what is left of signs after the semiosis of which they were a part has evaporated is a daunting challenge for semioticians. This essay reviews three books on semiotics and archeology from the past year. Read more...