Human cultures have evolved a distinctive set of semiotic signs to indicate ¿home¿, the place one returns to. This book surveys a wide range of semiotic signs which communicate the message ¿home¿, including architectural elements, decorative devices and protective graphic symbols defined within a broad spectrum of societies and time periods. The role of such semiotic signs in marking and defining human dwelling places is analyzed, and the connection between a specific statement of cultural meaning (¿This is my home¿) and the way this meaning is shared through cultural artifacts and visual symbols is examined. This analysis should be especially useful to students interested in an overview of semiotic signs, combining aspects of linguistics with the history of archetypes, semiotic theory, architectural history, and discussion of icons, indices and symbols.
Tami Sutcliffe is an information scientist interested in the ethnography of aesthetic knowledge. She is working on a PhD project considering visual images used in science which are not generally defined as fine art (DNA trees, crystal diagrams, sonar charts) and attempting to decipher what happens when these images begin to acquire aesthetic value outside of their specific scientific community. In particular, this project analyzes the qualitative aspects of the process of online scientific information becoming fine art: when does this redefinition occur? What are the distinctive components of art and information in these cases? What is the history of purely informational images acquiring aesthetic value?
Ms. Sutcliffe holds a Masters of Information Science degree, in addition to a Masters of Arts [Art History] degree. She presented her thesis "Gender and Communication Styles on the World Wide Web" at the American Library Association National Conference. As co-author, she presented "Determining Place Regulations on the Internet" during the 2007 Southern States Communication Association Convention. In 2009, VMD Verlag published her book "Reminders of Home: A survey of the semiotic signs related to human dwelling-places" [ISBN: 978-3639191585.]
Currently an instructional designer at the University of North Texas, Sutcliffe's professional roles have included knowledge management analyst, Web content author, reference librarian, and research director. Ms. Sutcliffe established InformationArt.org, a consulting firm specializing in online instructional design and is a candidate in the PhD program in Information Science at the University of North Texas.
