Analysis Of An E-Learning Augmented Environment: A Semiotic Approach To Augmented Reality Applications

In this paper, we analyze Augmented Reality (AR) in the context of a semiotic theory of new media. So, rather than analyzing AR meant as a new form of technology, we will analyze the new forms of communication which are produced with AR technology, that is, the Augmented Environments (AEs) generated by applications running on head-mounted devices created with AR technology. And we intend to use semiotics of media to conduct such analysis. In the first part of the paper, we outline the theoretical framework for our analysis. Particularly, following the suggestions coming from text semiotics, we investigate the concepts of media and text, so to be able to consider the AEs as multimedia texts. In the second part of the paper, we use semiotic theory to disassemble in many ways the AEs, so to identify all possible components of AEs and understand the role they play in creating the new complex form of experience that we call augmented reality. We believe that the semiotic approach to AEs can greatly increase the knowledge on AR and, consequently, help designers, developers, analysts, and users to better understand the new ways of perceiving the world offered by AR.