NASS board meeting attended

Today I have attended the board meeting of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), online. Topics included conference planning, and NASS representation in the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS).

General Assembly of IASS in Thessaloniki attended

Yesterday evening, I attended most of the General Assembly of the International Society for Semiotic Studies (IASS). I remain a representative for Norway, and for the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), in the Executive Committee of IASS.

3 scheduled appointments (and a conference)

Today I have attended 3 scheduled appointments. This included a budget meeting, and a chat with a journalist. 

Meanwhile, I have arrived in Thessaloniki, Greece, and have today also attended the first day of the 15th world congress of semiotics: Semiotics in the lifeworld (August 30-September 3).

Appointed as member of the scientific committee of the 15th world congress of semiotics

I have been asked, and agreed, to be appointed as a member of the scientific committee for the 15th world congress of semiotics, which is to be held in Thessaloniki, Greece on August 30th - September 3rd 2022 with the theme "Semiotics in the lifeworld". The congress is held in association with the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS). See list of world congresses here.

Dates of 14th world congress of semiotics announced

The 14th world congress of semiotics, organized by the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS), will be held in Buenes Aires, Argentina, on September 9-13th 2019. "Trajectories" are mentioned as a thematic keyword for the congress - see congress homepage.

IASS general assembly in Kaunas attended

On June 29th I attended (most of) the general assembly of the International Association for Semiotic Studies, held in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Book "Animal umwelten in a changing world" featured on IASS webpage

The book Animal umwelten in a changing world, which I have co-authored and co-edited, is featured in a post on the webpage of International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS).

13th World Congress of Semiotics to be held in Kaunas, Lithuania

in a recent communication from the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS), “Update on Bureau decisions and various issues arising for the Association in 2015", it is announced that the next World Congress of Semiotics (the 13th World Congress of Semiotics) will take place in Kaunas, Lithuania (in 2017). The 2019 world congress (the 14th World Congress of Semiotics) will likely be held in Argentina.

Proceedings chapter: "The changing imagery of the big bad wolf" - reference; errata

A brief article of mine, "The changing imagery of the big bad wolf", based on a conference presentation in 2009, has been published online (and on a CD) - in 2012, it appears. Abstract is available online, as is the full PDF.

Reference:

Tønnessen, Morten 2012. The changing imagery of the big bad wolf. Proceedings of the 10th World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS/AIS) (Universidade da Coruña (Spain)), ISBN: 978-84-9749-522-6, pp. 1543–1548. 

Errata:

1. "Morten Tønnessen, University of Tartu, Moscow (Russia)": Not sure where this came from. Tartu, where I took my PhD, is in Estonia.

2. “Rendalen happens to be [Southern!] Norway’s biggest municipality, measured by land area."

Complete mess at IASS Executive Committee meeting - Paul Cobley new President, Kristian Bankov new Secretary General

Yesterday the Executive Committee of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS-AIS) had its meeting to elect a new IASS board (all executive positions). The meeting took place during the 12th world congress of semiotics (Sofia, Bulgaria, September 16-20), and was attended by 50-60 Executive Committee members. I represented both Norway (along with Drude von der Fehr) and the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), and voted on behalf of both.

Paul Cobley was elected the new IASS President. He got my support after announcing a sensible, reform-oriented electoral program. Kristian Bankov was unanimously elected new Secretary General, after Massimo Leone withdrew his candidature. Both are elected for the period 2014-2019.

Like the IASS General Assembly held the day before, the meeting of the Executive Committee was unfortunately characterised by a selective and random approach to rule-following. I was embarassed at both occasions. At the General Assembly no proper financial report was presented, for instance - and the electoral procedure was a mess, and far from transparent. At the meeting of the Executive Committee, the Committe first decided with a clear majority that after two consecutive mandates, an elected official is not eligible for any position for the next 5-year period. Then, an hour or so later, a majority of the very same Committee elected Susan Petrilli as one of five Vice-Presidents (if only for 2 years), even though she was ineligible for any position according to the decision just made by 80% of those present. In other words: The Executive Committee voted on whether or not to follow its own rules, and a clear majority voted not to follow them.

A bit later two Treasurers (plus one Vice-Treasurer) were elected, since by mistake too many names had been put forward, and the Committee did not want to choose between them.

Adding to the unprofessional mess, at both occasions, was the fact that even though English, French and Spanish are all official languages of the IASS-AIS, at several points voting took place after the members had been informed e.g. just in French. At these instances half the audience did not know what was going on.

All this is funny at best, tragic at worst. The IASS is in desperate need of some simple professionalism.

The Semiotics of Animal Representations featured on IASS homepage

Our book The Semiotics of Animal Representations (Rodopi 2014, eds. Kadri Tüür and myself) is presented on the webpage of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS-AIS).