Big data visualization through the lens of Peirce’s visual sign theory

Abstract

Data from social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, are generated by people who produce, spread, share, or exchange multimedia content. Such content may include text, images, sounds, or videos. To derive insight into the behavior of social media users, researchers often use open-source technologies to visualize data and generate models for data analytics. One of the most popular open-source applications for managing and analyzing social media data is the open-source R programming language. Friedman and Feichtinger (2017) created an R package termed ‘Peirce’s sign theory R package’ to analyze data using Peirce’s principles of discovery. Though Peirce semiotics have been introduced in the context of computer programming languages, so far, no previous work has applied Peirce’s sign theory to data modelling of social media data. In this paper, we use Peirce’s sign theory R package as an overall framework to gain insight into data collected from Twitter. We assembled the data using Twitter’s Analytics algorithm, examined the relationships between variables, and visualized the results. Subsequently, we assessed the feasibility of analyzing those graphics using the triadic model set out by Jappy (2013) and Peirtarinen (2012) for the interpretation of visual signs. The study results showed that Peirce’s sign theory R package effectively analyzes and visualizes Big Data from social media feeds. However, due to complexities in both the social media data feeds and Peirce’s interpretation of meaning, as outlined by Jappy (2013) and Peirtarinen (2012), we were unable to develop algorithms that generate or suggest an interpretation of visual signs.

A semiotic intertextual analysis of beauty influencers' communication strategies on youtube: uncovering meaning and influence by using Pierce's framework

“…In this study, the semiotic analysis is conducted by using Peirce's semiotics theory. Peirce's semiotics, commonly known as semiotic theory, is a framework for philosophy developed by Charles Sanders Peirce [26], [27]. The focus of the theory is the interpretation of signs and symbols [20], [28].…”

“…The signs symbolize something other than their own existence in the context and provide meaning to the audience. Peirce classified signs into three categories: the representamen (the sign itself), the object (what the sign refers to or represents), and the interpretant (the meaning created in the audience's mind) [27]. The Pierce's semiotics theory also known triadic model is illustrated in the Fig.…”