Semiotics and digital storytelling

Learning objectives

At the end of the course, male and female students will have acquired the fundamental concepts and basic methodology of narrative semiotics, which will serve to recognize and critically analyze the stories on which the most effective products of contemporary mass communication are based.

Particular attention will be paid to audiovisuals that obtain viral diffusion on the Internet, and to the strategic use that professionals, companies, organizations and institutions make of them for their communication.

This year the concept of storytelling is applied to a concrete case of digital marketing, which includes the design of a digital communication campaign and a contest between groups of male and female students, with a cash prize offered by the Samsung company.

Course content

The course illustrates the basic concepts and methodology of the semiotic analysis of narrative texts, connecting them to the notion of storytelling in contemporary marketing. It delves into some links between semiotics and marketing, with particular attention to the practice of benchmarking.

These are the main themes:

1. The syntax of the story, from Vladimir Propp to Algirdas J. Greimas. Exercises and applications to the Samsung case study.
2.  Benchmarking applied to tourism communication.
3.  The trend of storytelling from the United States to Italy: what to save and how to avoid exaggerations, risks and abuses.
4. Values, valuable objects, methods. Application to the Samsung case study.
5. When images tell stories: from print campaigns to commercials. Application to the Samsung case study.

Prerequisites

Attention, concentration, active participation in lessons, ability to take notes in a systematic, organized and orderly manner.

Bibliography

1. The slides used by the teacher in class, which are made available as handouts.
2. Notes. It is necessary to take notes systematically, collecting them in an orderly and accurate manner, together with the case studies and exercises carried out in the classroom. Notes
   they must be studied together with the slides provided by the teacher.
3. The Premise and the first 2 chapters of the book by Maria Pia Pozzato, Understanding semiotics, Rome, Carocci, 2013 (pp. 9-38).
4. The article ”Semiotics and Storytelling. How semiotics can contribute to narrative marketing", downloadable at this link:
   https://mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/ec/article/view/1814

Teaching methods and tools

Alternation between frontal lessons and group exercises, which involve the concrete application of notions of semiotics, storytelling and digital marketing to a case study offered by
Samsung and the Secretariat of State for Tourism of San Marino.

Assessment methods and criteria

1/2 of the assessment comes from active and relevant participation during lessons and the ability to work collaboratively and constructively in various groups.
1/2 of the evaluation comes from an individual written test, which will be carried out on the last day of class.