I See Spots - Kiev

In MCI tute this morning, Niall explains Barthes' concept of the 'Death of the Author'...

Niall: "A Stop sign means what it means not because the creator of the Stop sign put the "stop" meaning into the sign. The author has nothing to do with the process of meaning making. The creator who came up with the idea of the sign is not the source of the "stop" meaning. Rather, resources such as narrative, genres and discourses are what enable us as readers/drivers to make meaning of the text/sign. Authors only make use of semiosis to make a sign mean a certain way...And while the Stop sign, as with all texts, are open to more than one possible reading, it suppresses this potential for polysemy, which produces a single dominant meaning - to stop."

Class: [Blank stares]