Virtual issue on honor of Jesper Hoffmeyer

Biosemiotics has published a virtual issue in honor of Jesper Hoffmeyer. The virtual issue consists of the editorial "Jesper Hoffmeyer´s biosemiotic legacy" and all his Springer Nature publications (6 articles and 8 book chapters), which are freely accessible online for a period of 8 weeks.

Call for papers for 20th gathering in biosemiotics

The call for papers for the 20th gathering in biosemiotics, to be held at Palacký university in Olomouc, Czech Republic July 8-12th 2020, has been released, see conference webpage. Abstract deadline is February 28th.

Call for papers for NASS XI, "Anticipation and change"

«Anticipation and Change»

The 11th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies

Third Call for Papers

Stavanger, Norway, June 13–15th 2019

Venue: Department of social studies, University of Stavanger

The 11th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS XI) will be hosted by University of Stavanger (UiS) and is co-sponsored by Department of social studies (UiS)and «The Greenhouse: An environmental humanities initiative at University of Stavanger»

Theme

The overall theme of NASS XI is «Anticipation and change». Relevant topics include – but are not limited to – the semiotics of child development and human development in general, social change, cultural change, environmental change, ontogeny, and evolution. The anticipatory aspect implies that future studies and the power of imagination are also relevant topics, as are, potentially, learning and perception, expectation and prediction, foresight and preconception. We welcome abstract proposals that approach these topics from a semiotic perspective and encourage interdisciplinary relations between semiotics and other disciplines.

Keynote speakers: 

Ingvil Hellstrand(Network for gender research, University of Stavanger): «Brave new world? Dystopia and social change in contemporary science fiction»

Jon Kvist(Institute of Society and Globalization, Roskilde School of Governance, Roskilde University): «Recent welfare reforms: Development or dismantlement of the Nordic welfare model?»

Jaan Valsiner(Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University): «The little big sign-makers: What can be learned from children for general theory of sign mediation?»

Nora Bateson(filmmaker, writer and educator, President of the International Bateson Institute): «Unnamed senses, unscripted ethics, wide angle attention.»

Abstract submission

Abstracts should be submitted as a Word file attachment to nassXI@uis.no, with subject line ”Abstract for NASS XI”. In order to be considered for the graduate student award and grants (see below), please indicate whether or not you are a graduate student. If you are interested in organizing a thematic session involving several presentations, please contact the conference organizers (same email address as above).

Each abstract submission should contain: (1) The name of the author(s) (surname, given name); (2) Your affiliation (including country of residence); (3) Your email address; (4) The title of the paper; (5) An abstract of max. 500 words; (6) 3–5 keywords; (7) and a short bionote of max. 100 words.

Deadline for abstract submission is December 10th, 2018. Notification of acceptance will be given by January 31st, 2019.

Registration and conference fee

Registration for NASS XI will require payment of a conference fee (early bird 1000 NOK, late registration 1250 NOK) which entitles conference participants to attendance, coffee breaks and a daily lunch, and program booklet. The conference fee includes fee for NASS membership for the period 2019–2021 (250 NOK). 

Early bird registration deadline is March 15th, 2019. Final registration deadline is April 30th, 2019.

Graduate student award and grants

5-10 graduate students presenting a paper at NASS XI will be supported financially by NASS, with a grant of 200 Euro each.

Furthermore, a prize will be awarded for the best graduate student presentation at NASS XI. The prize consists of a gift card worth 300 Euro, and a diploma.

Publication of selected papers

A special issue of Sign Systems Studies, “Anticipation and change”, will be published with selected papers from NASS XI. More info about the journal here: http://www.sss.ut.ee/index.php/sss

Local organizing team

Morten Tønnessen (conference chair), Daria Segal (conference secretary)

Scientific committee (abstract evaluation)

Søren Brier (Copenhagen Business School), Luis Emilio Bruni (Aalborg University), Sara Lenninger (Kristianstad University), Juha Ojala (University of Oulu), Alin Olteanu (Kaunas University of Technology/University of Tartu), Tiit Remm (University of Tartu), Inesa Sahakyan (Université Grenoble Alpes), Aleksei Semenenko (Umeå University), Morten Tønnessen (University of Stavanger)

For more information, contact nassXI@uis.noor visit http://nordicsemiotics.org.

Special issue on biosemiotic ethics freely available online

The special issue of Zeitschrift für Semiotik on biosemiotic ethics guest-edited by Morten Tønnessen, Yogi Hendlin and Jonathan Beever is now freely available online, downloadable in PDF format.

Brief presentation:

This issue presents the rapidly growing field of biosemiotic ethics. In the past two decades, biosemioticians have began to tease out the ethical implications of biosemiotics. The foundational argument is that if semiosis is a morally-relevant capacity, and if all living systems are semiotic, then biosemiosis can serve as the basis for justifying the attribution of moral status to humans, to animals and plants, and even to ecosystems. Biosemiotic ethics opens the road towards a perspective that connects ecological thinking with ethical perspectives.

All articles are licensed under the CC-BY 4.0 International license.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14464/zsem.v37i3-4

Biosemiotics on Twitter and Facebook

Our journal Biosemiotics is now officially on Twitter and Facebook:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Biosemiotics1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Biosemiotics

Do follow us there to stay up to date, interact and share biosemiotic publications!

2nd CFP: Special issue "Semiotic aspects of the extended synthesis"

***Extended Deadline for Abstracts to May 1st 2017***

CALL FOR PAPERS
For a Special Issue of the journal Biosemiotics: Semiotic Aspects of the Extended Synthesis.

The journal Biosemiotics (Springer) is preparing a special issue on “Semiotic Aspects of the Extended Synthesis” guest-edited by Andrew M. Winters. While the field of biosemiotics is concerned with the origin and development of natural semiotic systems, much of the discussion has been framed in terms of Darwinian frameworks, including the Modern Synthesis. Non-Darwinian views were held by Uexküll and, more recently, Darwinian views have been supplemented in important ways by Kull, Hoffmeyer, and Barbieri. Many biological phenomena, such as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, have yet to be explained in terms of these evolutionary theories. In the 1980s, biologists aimed to develop an Extended Synthesis to build upon and replace parts of the Modern Synthesis to better accommodate and explain these observed phenomenon. Given recent discussions of the Extended Synthesis, this Special Issue aims to understand the extent to which biosemiotics is commensurate with burgeoning developments in contemporary biology by exploring how core features of biosemiotics are either consistent or at odds with those accommodated by the Extended Synthesis.
 

The Special Issue of “Semiotic Aspects of the Extended Synthesis” welcomes papers that analyze specific semiotic processes within the Extended Synthesis, assess the general tenability of understanding biosemiotics in terms of the Extended Synthesis, or explore the relationship between biosemiotics and the Extended Synthesis. Papers in the form of theoretical works, empirical findings, or metatheoretical considerations are welcome.

Some potential questions to be explored in this Special Issue include:• How does the extended synthesis differ from Darwinian evolution and the modern synthesis in its impact on biosemiotics?• Does niche construction involve the construction of signs?• How does semiotics contribute to evolutionary-developmental biology?• Do signs further enhance plasticity and accommodation?• Are signs replicable?• Do signs and semiotic systems evolve?• Are signs capable of emerging and contributing to multilevel selection?• To what extent are candidate signs (e.g., genes) involved in genomic evolution? 

Technical Details and Timeline:• Paper Proposals (Title and Abstract) Due May 1st, 2017• Notification of Acceptance May 31st, 2017• Paper Submissions Due September 30th, 2017• Final Drafts Due January 31st, 2018• Electronic Publication February 2018• Print Version Issue #2 August 2018• Papers should be no more than 7,000 words (minus abstract and references)
• Instructions for authors can be found at:http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/evolutionary+%26+developmental+biolog
y/journal/12304• Submit abstracts and contact the editor at andrew.winters@sru.edu

CFP for special issue on the Extended Synthesis

CALL FOR PAPERS

For a Special Issue of the journal Biosemiotics: Semiotic Aspects of the Extended Synthesis

The journal Biosemiotics (Springer) is preparing a special issue on “Semiotic Aspects of the Extended Synthesis” guest-edited by Andrew M. Winters. While the field of biosemiotics is concerned with the origin and development of natural semiotic systems, much of the discussion has been framed in terms of Darwinian frameworks, including the Modern Synthesis. Non-Darwinian views were held by Uexküll and, more recently, Darwinian views have been supplemented in important ways by Kull, Hoffmeyer, and Barbieri. Many biological phenomena, such as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, have yet to be explained in terms of these evolutionary theories. In the 1980s, biologists aimed to develop an Extended Synthesis to build upon and replace parts of the Modern Synthesis to better accommodate and explain these observed phenomenon. Given recent discussions of the Extended Synthesis, this Special Issue aims to understand the extent to which biosemiotics is commensurate with burgeoning developments in contemporary biology by exploring how core features of biosemiotics are either consistent or at odds with those accommodated by the Extended Synthesis.  

The Special Issue of “Semiotic Aspects of the Extended Synthesis” welcomes papers that analyze specific semiotic processes within the Extended Synthesis, assess the general tenability of understanding biosemiotics in terms of the Extended Synthesis, or explore the relationship between biosemiotics and the Extended Synthesis. Papers in the form of theoretical works, empirical findings, or metatheoretical considerations are welcome.  

Some potential questions to be explored in this Special Issue include: 

• How does the extended synthesis differ from Darwinian evolution and the modern synthesis in its impact on biosemiotics? 

• Does niche construction involve the construction of signs? 

• How does semiotics contribute to evolutionary-developmental biology? 

• Do signs further enhance plasticity and accommodation? 

• Are signs replicable? 

• Do signs and semiotic systems evolve? 

• Are signs capable of emerging and contributing to multilevel selection? 

• To what extent are candidate signs (e.g., genes) involved in genomic evolution? 

Technical Details and Timeline:

• Paper Proposals (Title and Abstract) Due January 31st, 2017

• Notification of Acceptance February 28th, 2017 

• Paper Submissions Due September 30th, 2017

• Final Drafts Due January 31st, 2018

• Electronic Publication February 2018

• Print Version Issue #2 August 2018

• Papers should be no more than 7,000 words (minus abstract and references)

• Instructions for authors can be found here

• Submit abstracts and contact the editor at andrew.winters@sru.edu