The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.

The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.

“SHOWTIME!” NORM: Lights, camera, action — convening is about spectacle. We sit in the audience, to be inspired by onstage performers.

“SHOWTIME!” FORMS: Auditoriums and theaters, speakers on stage, rapt audiences. Stage often organized to resemble a TV talk show.

From a 2018 study of the INSPIRATIONAL space, within the larger framework of CONVENING. How best to communicate the notion that convening is about sparking a flame, making aha! moments possible?