Day Nineteen: Mobilizing Meaning

Some Terminology in Semiotics

Signifier: a material thing that signfies something else (e.g. a number, an word, an expression)
Signified: a concept that the signifier represents
Indexical: cases where the signifier is assumed to have a direct causal relationship with the signified
- e.g. My dog’s tail wag signifies that she is happy.
- e.g. 5 signifies the number of fingers on my hand.
Symbolic: cases where is the signifier takes on meaning through culturally-specific interpretation of the signified

Is x more/less than y?
- e.g. “Women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.”
- e.g. “The U.S. ranks first in firearm homicides in high income countries, with a rate of 4.52 firearm homicides per 100,000 population.”

Identifying the yardstick to indicate “good” or “healthy”
- e.g. “A credit score of 800 or above is ‘excellent’.”
- e.g. “An AQI of 202 is ‘very unhealthy’.”

First speaker: Provides uninterrupted narration about this measure. What does it mean to you? How did it come to have its meaning? How do you decide what success looks like?
Second speaker: Listens with intention: What does this number mean to this person?

Second speaker: Reflect back on what you heard/ask questions, etc. (e.g. “From what I understand…”)
First speaker: Affirm, correct, clarify, but also listen for what they heard

Through what mechanisms did people decide what was good?
Did you identify social structures at play in making this number meaningful?
Did you hear your partner talk about ways this number might mean different things to different people?

Mobilization refers to the processes by which people prepare something to be put to use or into action
Stakeholders strategically engage in meaning-making activities around data
Shapes societal interpretations of data

Curating plot details and trajectories
- Choosing variables to report on
- Choosing how to sequence statistics
Engaging literary or rhetorical devices
- Techniques of communication designed to evoke a reaction from the listener
Identifying the sense-making tools
- Visuals
- Statistical terminology (e.g. “statistically significant”)

Ad banned in 2023
Emphasized the renewables at the expense of high-carbon initiatives (which make up bulk of Shell production)
“We strongly disagree with the ASA’s decision, which could slow the UK’s drive towards renewable energy,” said a spokesperson for Shell. “People are already well aware that Shell produces the oil and gas they depend on today. When customers fill up at our petrol stations across the UK, it’s under the instantly recognisable Shell logo.”
“However, they [are] unlikely to be aware of the details of this in relation to specific companies,” the ASA said. “Ads [are] therefore likely to mislead consumers if they [have] misrepresented the contribution that lower-carbon initiatives played, or would play in the near future, as part of the overall balance of a company’s activities.”

“The actual number of Americans jailed or imprisoned, about 2.3 million.” - Matt Korostoff

https://mkorostoff.github.io/incarceration-in-real-numbers/