Nova's semiotics book (and third semioethics interview) published

Nova Science Publishers' edited collection Semiotics: Theory and applications has finally been published, a half to one year after schedule. The official publication date is said to be June 1st (though I only received instructions for how to access my complimentary ebook June 14th, and achieved access June 20th).

My contribution in this book volume is "The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness".

There are two more semioethics interviews with Deely (no. 2 and no. 4). These will appear at some point, perhaps next year.

Reference for third semioethics interview

The delayed semiotics anthology of Nova Science Publishers is still, according to the publisher, in production. On request I was given a reference, however - page numbers, to be precise, resulting in the following reference for my contribution:

Morten Tønnessen 2011. The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness. Pp171-189 in Steven C. Hamel (ed.): Semiotics: Theory and Applications, New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Nova: Semiotics e-book published; new invite received

The Nova book Semiotics: Theory and applications, where I contribute with chapter 6, The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness, has now apparently been published both as an e-book and in print. The e-book version was said to be in final production as of March 12th (see below).

Cf.
Nova's semiotics anthology published? (March 12)
Nova's semiotics publication: To be released when? (February 1)

Meanwhile, today I received a third invitation to contribute with a chapter to a Nova Science Publishers anthology (along with countless others, I am sure). The topic this time: Wolves: Biology, Behavior and Conservation.

Nova's semiotics anthology published?

The book collection Semiotics: Theory and Applications, which was to be published in the 4th quarter of 2010, and where I contribute with "The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness ", has apparently been published by now, in hardcover (status is set to "Available"). The e-book, however, is still in "Final Production".

Nova's semiotics publication: To be released when?

On Amazon, it says that Nova Science Publisher's Semiotics: Theory and applications, where I contribute with "The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness " (chapter 6), "will be released on 1 February 2011" - today.

On Nova's own pages, however, it still says that the ebook is in "final production", and that the hardcover version is "at press". In both cases, the publication date is still set to "2010 4th quarter".

I have received no notification from the publisher.

Nova publication approaching - semioethics download available

Above you see the frontpage of the upcoming book ´Semiotics: Theory and applications´, where I contribute with ´The Semioethics Interview III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness´.

According to the information given the hardcover version is now ´at press´, whereas the ebook is in ´final production´ (full price for each one: 129$). My article is also available for download for the interesting price of 100$.

The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness

$100.00

Authors: Morten Tønnessen

Abstract: The general topic of this contribution is semioethics, widely regarded as one of the most significant developments in semiotics after the turn of the 21st century, and along with the existential semiotics of Eero Tarasti (2000) a sign of an ethical turn within semiotics. The term semioethics, which signifies not least the emergence of a sense of global responsibility, was introduced by Susan Petrilli and Augusto Ponzio in 2003, and Petrilli in particular is associated with this emerging scholarly field. The semioethics interviews, conducted by Norwegian-born Tartu semiotician Morten Tønnessen, starts out (in four separate interview articles) with Professor John Deely, a prominent American scholar known among other works for The Four Ages of Understanding: The first Postmodern Survey of Philosophy from Ancient Times to the Turn of the 20th Century (Deely 2001a). Deely, a semiotician as well as a philosopher, has joined Susan Petrilli and Augusto Ponzio in their endeavour by grounding the notion of semioethics in philosophical terms. Topics include the responsibility of humankind, individuals and governments, the place of culture as part of and yet distinct from nature, the semiotic side of modern economic and technological development, the future prospects of human understanding and morality in the light of current economic and political developments, and philosophy – the distinction between ontology and epistemology, and the terminology of rights, ncluded – reviewed in terms of (Peircean) semiotics. In the course of the interview, Deely relates not only to Peirce but further to Petrilli, to Thomas Sebeok, to the biologist Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944) and to phenomenologist Edmund Husserl. The human condition is examined time over again, drawing on a rich reference material from philosophy as well as from various sciences and scholarly disciplines.

A not very flattering invitation

Five days ago I apparently received two email invitations to contribute to two different anthologies. One of these were from Nova Science Publishers, to whom I've already submitted a book chapter upon invitation (on semioethics, cf. previous posts). "We have learned about your published work on environmental change", the invite read (earlier: "... on semiotics"). The worktitle this time is Environmental Change: Climate, Energy and Ecosystems. A fitting theme for me, by all means - but at the moment I have no suitable texts thought out (and a full schedule). See also Nova's page for the forthcoming Semiotics: Theory and Applications.

The other invite was from InTech, and signed by a Niksa Mandic. The book in question has the worktitle Globalization. "You are invited to participate in this book project based on your paper "Steps to a Semiotics of Being"...", I am told in the otherwise standardized email. Again, the theme is relevant for me. But while Nova doesn't charge its authors (unless they choose to make use of extra services/functions - open access included), InTech has the courage to ask for 590 Euro from each author. With up to 50 contributors per volume, it is pretty clear that their business model is not so much based on selling books as on profiting on complimenting scholars by inviting them to publish. They present themselves as an open access publisher, but their claim that each of their chapters are downloaded 1.000 times a month does not appear to be legitimate, if you check with their latest online publications.

Third semioethics interview approaching publication

I am right now in the process of proof-reading "The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness", which will be published in the book Semiotics: Theory and applications.

Nova Publishers have now launched a site for the collection, which is edited by Steven C. Hamel, and included in the "Languages and Linguistics" series. The book, which will cost no less than 129$, is scheduled for publication in the 4th quarter of 2010. Below is Nova's book description and the table of contents (any emphasis is mine).

Book Description:
Semiotics is the study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication, signs and symbols, and is usually divided into three branches: Semantics, Syntactics, and Pragmatics. Semiotics is frequently seen as having important anthropological dimensions. In general, semiotic theories take signs or sign systems as their object of study: the communication of information in living organisms is covered in biosemiotics or zoosemiosis. This book discusses the theory and application of semiotics across a broad spectrum and has gathered current research from around the globe.

Table of Contents:
Preface

Signifying the Transition from Modern to Post-Modern Schooling through Analyzing Changes in the Material Culture of Schools (Kostas Dimopoulos, Associate Professor of Learning Materials, Dept of Social and Educational Policy, University of Peloponnese, Greece)

Beyond Signification: The Co-Evolution of Subject and Semiosis (Tahir Wood, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa)

Language, Emotion, and Health: A Semiotic Perspective on the Writing Cure (Louise Sundararajan, Chulmin Kim, Martina Reynolds, Chris R. Brewin, Rochester Regional Forensic Unit, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, and others)

Re-Thinking the Place of Semiotics in Psychology and its Implications for Psychological Research (Agnes Petocz, University of Western Sydney)

How Israelis Represent the Problem of Violence in their Schools: A Case Study of a Discursive Construction (Douglas J. Glick, Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York)

The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness (Morten Tønnessen, Department of Semiotics, Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics, University of Tartu, Estonia, and others)

A Semiotics Discourse Analysis Framework: Understanding Meaning Making in Science Education Contexts (Kamini Jaipal-Jamani, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ont., Canada)

Semiotic Constraints of the Biological Organization (Abir U. Igamberdiev, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Department of Biology, St. John’s, NL, Canada)

Corpus-Based Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy: Review of Stefanowitsch, Anatol, Gries, Stefan Th. (eds.) (Zhiying Xin, School of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University, P. R. China)

The Role of Sign Vehicles in Mediating Teachers’ Mathematical Problem Solving (Sinikka Kaartinen, Timo Latomaa, University of Oulu, Finland)

Interaction and Interactivity: A Semiotic Commentary (Jan M. Broekman, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law, Penn State University Dickinson School of Law, Pennsylvania)

Multimodal Stylistics: The Happy Marriage of Stylistics and Semiotics (Nina Nørgaard, Institute of Language and Communication, University of Southern Denmark)

Third semioethics interview finished, submitted and approved

The third semioethics interview, "The semioethics interviews III: John Deely: Human understanding in the age of global awareness" was in the main finished the last weekend and finally submitted (with minor changes) this Monday to Nova Science publishers for their forthcoming edited collection "Semiotics: Theory and applications". Wednesday it was accepted for publication.

.

I have further cleared it for possible cross-publication in their topical journals.

.

CONTENTS

Introduction

To consider products as processes

To be aware that something exists independently of us

To realize that this planet is what we have

To realize that tomorrow is not a forever thing

To pinpoint who are responsible

To understand the domino effect

To conceptualize reality appropriately

To foresee negative consequences of miraculous technologies

Conclusion

Third semioethics interview confirmed

My contribution (abstracted) “The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness”, submitted upon invitation to Nova Science Publishers' planned anthology Semiotics: Theory and Applications, has been accepted for inclusion in this volume.

The publication is likely to appear either late this year or early in 2011.

Semioethics interview in Nova's semiotics anthology

I have submitted an abstract entitled “The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness” to Nova Science Publishers' planned anthology Semiotics: Theory and Applications, upon invitation.

The first interview in this series was published in Hortus Semioticus. The second and fourth are still to find their places of publication (interested, anyone?).

Invitation to contribute to book by Nova Publishers

I have received an email from Nova Science Publishers (signed by editor-in-chief Frank Columbus) in which I am invited to contribute to a book entitled "Semiotics: Theory and applications". They previously published 2 issues of "Journal of Biosemiotics".