Workshop

COMPUTATIONAL SEMIOTIC SYSTEMS II
Theory, Implementation, Semiotic Relevance

as part of the

9th International Semiotic Congress of the German Semiotic Society

and

7th International Congress of the IASS-AIS

LOCATION: Dresden, Technical University
DATE: October 6-7, 1999
ORGANIZATION: Dr. Gerd Döben-Henisch
BOARD:

• Rodney Clarke (Wollongong, Australia)

• Gerd Döben-Henisch (Frankfurt, Germany)

• Louwrence Erasmus (Pretoria, South Africa)

• Ricardo Gudwin (Campinas, Brazil)

• Alexander Mehler (Trier, Germany)

• Burghard Rieger (Trier, Germany)

List of Contributions (Last Changes: Aug-30, 1999)

Rodney J.Clarke

Department of Business Systems, University of Wollongong

Northfields Avenue, North Wollongong, NSW 2500, AUSTRALIA

E-mail: rodney_clarke@uow.edu.au

WWW: http://www.uow.edu.au/commerce/buss/rsch-ss.htm

Alexander Mehler

Department of Computational Linguistic

University of Trier, FB II: LDV/CL

D-54286 TRIER, Germany

Email: mehler@ldv35.uni-trier.de

mehler @ldv.uni-trier.de

Web: http://www.ldv.uni-trier.de:8080/mehler.html

TITLE: Print Media in Contexts: A Systemic Semiotic contribution to Computational Semiotics

ABSTRACT: The emerging field of Computational Semiotics (CS) has been proposed in order to account for the intersection between semiosis and machine computation. The CS field needs to develop theories which (i) can specify the conditions required in order for a 'computational' model to be considered 'semiotic', (ii) are sufficiently defined to describe the theoretical and methodological limits of computational models, and (iii) are suggestive of a variety of implementation strategies that could be used to create CS applications. This paper proposes the use of Systemic Semiotics, a combination of Systemic Functional Linguistics and its extension into Social Semiotics, as a basis for a theory of CS. Utilising Martin's (1992) SFL Stratal Model, and the related concept of Texture, defined as the text forming resources available to language users, the paper provides a first approximation to an explicitly semiotic theoretical meta model for CS capable of suggesting a variety of implementation strategies for CS applications. The utility of Systemic Semiotics as a theoretical meta model for CS is exemplified using a case study of Print Media texts.

The case study is conducted using two major classes of Texture. The first texture class is referred to as Cohesion, which includes all Intersentential Resources responsible for relating parts of a text to each other. Of particular interest to this case study are relationships formed by lexical items, referred to as Lexical Cohesion. The second texture class applied to the case study is referred to as Coherence. Coherence includes Situational Coherence and Generic Coherence, in order to describe the relationship between texts and their immediate situational and broader cultural or institutional contexts.

The Systemic Semiotic meta model for CS is also applied to suggest specific implementation strategies for Lexical Cohesion and Coherence. Specific CS implementation strategies are derived for both texture classes by relating them to their respective strata in the SFL Stratal Model. Resulting implementation strategies for Lexical Cohesion and Coherence are applied to developing a model for hypertext representation of Print Media texts.

Louwrence Erasmus/ Gerold Muhr/ Gerd Döben-Henisch

inm numerical magic GmbH

department of Learning Technologies

Daimlerstr. 32

D-60314 Frankfurt am Main

louwrence@inm.de

gerold@inm.de

doeb@inm.de

TITLE: "Semiotic Modelling and Simulation of the Goal Driven Software Developing Organisation"

ABSTRACT: In this paper we discuss the topic of modelling and implementing the Goal Driven Software Developing Organisation from a semiotical point of view. The concept of a semiotic factory is introduced for describing the dynamic behaviour of a semiotic system related to certain goals that needs to be achieved. The influence of economics, science and art on the dynamics of the semiotic factory is shown. The relation of the semiotic factory to the General Scientific Framework is shown. The conditions for the forming of teams by semiotic agents inside the semiotic factory is described and the importance of communication between team members gets emphasized. This model makes it possible to model the Goal Driven Software Developing Company for simulation on digital computers and is proposed as a possible application for computational semiotics.

Ricardo Gudwin

Intelligent Systems Development Group

DCA - FEEC - UNICAMP

Caixa Postal 6101

13081-970 Campinas, SP

BRAZIL

email: gudwin@dca.fee.unicamp.br

gudwin@fee.unicamp.br

gudwin@ieee.org

http://www.dca.fee.unicamp.br/~gudwin/

TITLE: From Semiotics to Computational Semiotics

ABSTRACT: Semiotics is a branch of human sciences, that studies the science of representation, involving mainly the phenomena of cognition and communication on living systems. This interconnects somewhat with the study of intelligent systems, where some of the objectives are the study of the phenomena of cognition and communication, but now explicitly under the scope of artificial systems. Computational semiotics corresponds to the proposition of a set of methodologies that in some way try to use the concepts and terminology of semiotics, but composing a framework suitable to be used in the construction of artificial systems. Despite computational semiotics is a new inborn science, there are currently some important contributions that despite still not complete and definitive, help us in understanding the nature of semiotic processes and allow their synthesis and implementation within computational platforms. In this work, we explore one possible pathway along a set of ideas evolving around, which proposes one way of gathering the transition between traditional semiotics and computational semiotics, making it possible to synthesize semiotic systems by means of artificial computing devices.

Wolfgang Mack

Universität Frankfurt a. M.

Institut für Psychologie

Georg-Voigt-Str. 8

D-60054 Frankfurt a.M.

email: mack@psych.uni-frankfurt

TITLE: Learning signs. The problem of the genesis of signs within a neurocomputational semiotics.

ABSTRACT: In psychology learning is operationally defined as observable changes of the probability, that an organism will perform certain behavior acts in the presence of certain events, i.e. environmental structures. Presently, a wider definition of learning is accepted, because of, for example, latent learning, going together with unobservable state and process changes inside an organism, so the term ‘learning’ is used loosely to denote acquiring of knowledge or various competences. Of course it is assumed, that learning leads to changes in existing representations or even to new representations of the world, these changes having its corresponding bases in changed neuronal structures. Viewed from outside, the environment consists of statistically coupled events exhibiting more or less regularity. In order to survive every organism must have mechanisms to exploit and to creat such structural regularities. Every organism has to learn, what belongs together and what not (by binding or synthesis and segementation or analysis). Rate of events and spatial coupling can be used by organisms to predict event-class B in the presence of event-class A, whereby event-class A gains its nature of a sign. It will be argumented, that using the most simple learning mechanisms and recasting some of these mechanisms like that of classical conditioning and signal-detection theory (probabilistic categorical learning) within a neuro-computational framework, can prepare an answer to the question, how the brain gets its semiotic powers. Nevertheless, signs can only be definded relative to the observer, so the answer to the deeper philosophical question of computational semiotics, are signs intrinsical biophysical entities, has to be postponed, but should be kept in mind.

Burghard Rieger

Department of Linguistic Data Processing

University of Trier, FB II: LDV/CL

D-54286 TRIER, Germany

Email: rieger@ldv35.Uni-Trier.de

rieger@ldv.Uni-Trier.de

Web: http://www.ldv.uni-trier.de:8080/rieger.html

TITLE: "On Simulation and Realization. Procedural models of sign functions in computational semiotics"

ABSTRACT: (PS-FILE, 3 pages) (PS-FILE, 12 pages)

-> Burghard Rieger phoned me that he will not be able to attend because his duties as decan of the faculty urge him to participate at the same time to participate at a special conference.

Karl-Heinrich Schmidt

Universität GH Essen

Universitätsstr. 12

email: karl-heinrich.schmidt@uni-essen.de

TITLE: "A Semiotic View on Agents with Computable Perception"

ABSTRACT: In knowledge processing notions of well-formedness are typically preconditions of knowledge representation. According to P. Hayes symbol systems without criteria of well-formedness generate “perceptual situations”: they can convey meaning, but are only interpretable with well-formed representations. In this paper we investigate this claim of Hayes by semiotical means. Especially, we investigate three classes of perceptual situations for (sets of) agents.

Hans Christian Schmitz

email: hcs@cl1.ikp.uni-bonn.de

Roland Stuckardt/ Gerd Döben-Henisch

inm numerical magic GmbH

department of Learning Technologies

Daimlerstr. 32

D-60314 Frankfurt am Main

roland@inm.de

doeb@inm.de

TITLE: "The Concepts of Sign and Language within a Computational Neural Environment"

ABSTRACT: In this paper we introduce the concepts 'sign' and 'language' within the context of a formalized empirical theory comprising neurobiology, neuropsychology, and neurolinguistics in a uniform manner. The theory describes adaptive neural semiotic systems in dynamic environments. We discuss several foundational issues and analyze one concrete example. The intended outcome of these considerations should be the outline of a general theory called Theory of Adaptive Neural Semiotic Systems [T_ANSS]. Because we want to have a mapping from the theory into programs we have as well to determine the most general requirements for such programs such that they can serve as the computational counterparts of the theory. Within the view of philosophy of science we discuss the general conditions of such a mapping and in the view of computer science we propose one possible computational structure.

Other Participants (As told by the Organizer):

Beaulieu, Yvan (Canada):

"Computer Intelligence?"

Kindler, Eugene (Czech Republic):

"Modelling of systems containing modelling elements"

Köster, Lothar (Germany):

"Entwurf einer semiotischen Ergonomie / Foundations of semiotic ergonomics"

Uzilevsky, Gennady J. (Russia):

"Some objectives of human-machine interaction research in the context of

communication means evolution in the world culture development"

TIMESCHEDULE

PAYMENT

Because our workshop is planned to overlap both congresses the organizers have offert us the following payment policy:

1. Participation at the workshop and only one of the congresses = You pay only the one congress

2. Participation at the workshop and both congresses = You pay one congress full and one congress half

3. Members of the DGS are automatically also members of the IASS

PUBLICATIONS

The organizers of the congress will decide after the congress which of the papers they will select for publications.

ORGANIZATION of the WORKSHOP

INM - Institut für Neue Medien
Dr. Gerd Döben-Henisch
Daimlerstr.32
60314 Frankfurt
TEL: +49-(0)69-941 963 -10 (or -34)
FAX: +49-(0)69-941 963 - 22
EMail: doeb@inm.de

ORGANIZATION of the CONGRESS

Prof. Dr. Walter Schmitz
Vice-President for Education
Technical University Dresden
Mommsenstrasse 13
D--01062 Dresden
mailto:wschmitz@rek.tu-dresden.de
TEL: +49-(0)351-463-6201
FAX: +49-(0)351-463-7769

URL: 9th International Semiotic Congress of the German Semiotic Society
URL: 7th International Congress of the IASS-AIS