Elliot Gaines, Ph.D.

Welcome to Elliot Gaines' Homepage.

Elliot Gaines, Ph. D.
Wright State University

Department of Communication
3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy. Dayton, Ohio 45435
office phone (937) 775-2098 , fax (937) 775-2146
email: [email protected]

Specialties: Semiotics, Cultural Studies, Media Criticism, and Mass Media Communication

Semiotic Society of America, President 2013-2014

Here is a link to the Semiotic Society of America

photo by Wm. Jones

If you wish to contact Elliot Gaines, you can send your comments and inquiries by email

Media Literacy and Semiotics by Elliot Gaines!

Media Literacy And Semiotics looks at many well known examples from popular media to illustrate how we can better understand media and its effects. Media literacy requires critical thinking, so the author explains semiotic methods in simple terms to help readers learn to analyze media and develop critical thinking skills needed to verify interpretations beyond personal beliefs and opinions.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon
Here is a link to the book on Barnes and Noble

Here is a link to Facebook discussion page for Media Literacy And Semiotics

Here I am with my kids

CONTENTS

This site contains the following:

Elliot Gaines' Academic Career Biography

Elliot Gaines' Scholarship in Print and Creative publications Bibliography

Read FULL TEXT articles listed in the Bibliography

***View Elliot Gaines' movie about SEMIOTICS: "Charles Sanders Peirce: Semiotics And The Logic Of Pragmatism" ***CAUTION: BEFORE YOU CLICK, A high-speed connection, and a current version of QuickTime Player are BOTH necessary, or contact Dr. Gaines for information about CDROM or DVD copies.

CLASS MATERIALS: SYLLABI, HAND-OUTS, AND FORMS

Media Criticism COM 4640/6640 SYLLABUS FALL 2016
KNOWLEDGE FORM for COM 4640 Media Criticism Media Criticism Knowledge Form
Performance for the Media COM 4110 SYLLABUS FALL 2016
General notes for Critical Thinking and Assignments CRITERIA FOR ASSIGNMENTS
Broadcast Criticism COM 4640/6640 Short Analysis Assignment
Broadcast Criticism COM 4640/6640 Analysis Exercise
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT GRADING CRITERIA Evaluation Form for all Written Assignments
KNOWLEDGE FORM Knowledge Form
ALL CLASSES PRESENTATION GRADING FORM
Semiotic Diagrams Handout
Video Production Basic Principles and Video Evaluation Rubric
Performance for the Media COM 4110, SYLLABUS SPRING 2013
Performance for the Media Com 4110 Supreme Court 60 second Script
Performance for the Media Com 4110 studio requirements for group projects
Performance for the Media Com 4110 Group Project
Special Topics: Advanced Video Production Com 4710 SYLLABUS SPRING 2014
SEMIOTICS OF COMMUNICATION UH 400 SYLLABUS WINTER 2010
COM 365 Issues in Mass Communication Syllabus Summer 2010

Writing to Communicate COM 200 SYLLABUS, Summer 2009

NOTES for WRITING PAPERS for ALL CLASSES, from COM 200 NOTES and a "Seinfeld" Sample paper
ALL CLASSES COMMON PROBLEMS AND TIPS FOR WRITING SHORT ASSIGNMENTS (from COM 200)
Writing to Communicate COM 200 Notes for the FINAL PAPER

Media Science, and Society COM 399 SYLLABUS, Spring 2009

SENIOR SEMINAR Com 400 SYLLABUS WINTER 2009
Senior Seminar Com 400 Assessment Quiz
Senior Seminar Com 400 Exit Interview Form
Senior Seminar Synopsis
Senior Seminar a sample resume
Senior Seminar Deduction/Induction Career Development Exercise com464Criteria.htm
Mass Communication Com 152 Narrative Review.
Media Analysis Goals
Narrative Analysis Review Method
Semiotics of Communication UH 201 SYLLABUS, Spring 2006
Principles of Critical Thinking Handout.

In Africa discussing communication strategies and environmental activism with Jane Goodall. Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania, July 2011
Here is a link to a blog created by Len Kenyon with lots of photos and some blog entries that I contributed while participating in a National Science Foundation research project with scientists from Wright State University and University of Wisconsin at Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania during Summer 2011: Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania: A habitat diversity and productivity investigation of Africa's freshwater Lake Tanganyika, and the social and cultural implications of bordering Tanzania to global environmental understanding.
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Our research group in Gombe Park, Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania, July 2011
Here is a link to a video production I made called Following the Fish in the Near Shore Waters of Lake Tanganyika featuring Dr. Yvonne Vadeboncoeur and Dr. Renalda Munubi. As a co-principle investigator for a National Science Foundation Grant, I produced this video to illustrate some aspects of the research conducted by Dr. Vadeboncoeur, Dr. Pete McIntire, and Dr. Renalda Munubi in Lake Tanganyika, in Tanzania. The video also features music that I wrote, produced, and performed.

Of Minds and Language: An Encounter with Noam Chomsky
University of the Basque Country, San Sebastian Spain, 2006

SAMPLE FULL TEXT PUBLISHED ARTICLES:
(some files are WORD documents, and some are PDF files.)
from Semiotics 2010, THE EFFICACY OF EQUALITY IN MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF SCIENCE from SEMIOTICS 2010: The Semiotics of Time. Ed. Karen Haworth, Jason Hogue, Leonard Sbrocchi. NY: Legas. (note that the pdf file is a publisher's proof and the page numbers in are incorrect. The actual page numbers are pp. 445-451).
from Semiotics 2008, MEDIA CRITICISM AND SETTLING OPINION. (2009). John Deely and Leonard Sbrocchi Eds. New York: Legas Publishing. pp. 251-257.

from Journal of Creative Communications, COMMUNICATION AND THE SEMIOTICS OF SPACE Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications. Jul 2006; 1: 173 - 181.

from The American Journal of Semiotics, THE SEMIOTICS OF MEDIA IMAGES FROM INDEPENDENCE DAY AND SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

from The American Journal of Semiotics, THE SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF MYTH: A PROPOSAL FOR AN APPLIED METHODOLOGY

from Semiotics 2002, THE NECESSARY AMBIGUITY OF COMMUNICATION

from Qualitative Inquiry, INTERPRETING INDIA, IDENTITY, AND MEDIA FROM THE FIELD: EXPLORING THE COMMUNICATIVE NATURE OF THE EXOTIC OTHER Vol. 11. Number 4. 2005.

from Building Diverse Communities Through Research, "BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH STORIES ABOUT REAL EVENTS: THE HABITUS OF BROADCAST JOURNALISM Eds. Mark Orbie, Trevy McDonald, and T. Ford- Ahmed. Hampton Press. (2002).

from CASE STUDIES IN SPORT COMMUNICATION, The Re-signification of Risk in Marketing Whitewater: Ritual Initiation and the Mythology of River Culture Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing. Eds. R. Brown and D. O'Rourke (2003).

from The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, COMMUNICATION FOR OSTEOPATHIC MANIPULATIVE TREATMENT: THE LANGUAGE OF LIVED-EXPERIENCE IN OMT PEDAGOGY

Click this link for Abstracts from Gaines' Bibliography

1997-1999 Research in India

in Vrindaban, Uttar Pradesh, India

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Biography

Elliot Gaines received his Ph.D. in Mass Communication in 1995 from Ohio University with emphases in Critical and Cultural Studies, media criticism, semiotics, and media production. His research explores communication, identity, culture, media literacy, and semiotic theory. Topics range from broadcast news, pop culture, whitewater rafting, and media analysis and construction, images, and reality. In addition to traditional written scholarship, Gaines also produces documentary, educational, and scholarly video programs.
Dr. Gaines has an interdisciplinary MA from Ohio University College of Fine Arts, 1993, with emphases in music composition, audio production, film theory, video production, and sound for the moving image.
His BA is from Rutgers University, 1972, where he majored in psychology and studied jazz with Lloyd McNeill and Larry Riddley.
Elliot Gaines has more than twenty years of experience in music performance, audio and video production, promotion and public relations. He has been a performing and recording musician, a radio dj, an entertainment coordinator at major resort, video producer, public speaker, and university professor. He has been newsletter editor for the Commission for Semiotics and Communication for the National Communication Association and President of the Semiotic Society of America

Danny Glover, Dr. T. Ford-Ahmed, and Dr. Gaines

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Bibliography

SCHOLARSHIP in print

Gaines, Elliot. (2012). "British Imperialism in Fiji: A Model for the Semiotics of Cultural Identity." Special Issue on "Nation and Identity." International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Semiotique juridique. Ed. Anne Wagner. Berlin, New York, London: Springer.

Gaines, Elliot. (2010). "The Efficacy of Equality in Media Representation of Science." Semiotics 2009. Karen Haworth and Leonard Sbrocchi Eds. New York: Legas Publishing. pp. 445-451.

Gaines, Elliot. (2009). "Media Criticism and Settling Opinion." Semiotics 2008. John Deely and Leonard Sbrocchi Eds. New York: Legas Publishing. pp. 245-251.

---. (2009). "Media Literacy and the Future of Semiotics: Toward a Semiotic Taxonomy." Semiotics 2006. Benjamin Smith and Terry J. Prewitt Eds. New York: Legas Publishing. pp. 279-286.

---. (2008). "Media Literacy and Semiotics: Toward a Future Taxonomy of Meaning." Semiotica: Journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies. Revue de l'Association Internationale de Semiotique. Ed. Marcel Danesi. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 171:1-4. Pp. 239-250.

---. (2007). "The Narrative Semiotics of 'The Daily Show'". Semiotica: Journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies. Revue de l'Association Internationale de Semiotique. Ed. Marcel Danesi. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 166- 1/4. pp. 81-96.

---. (2006). "Communication and the Semiotics of Space." Journal of Creative Communications. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications. Jul 2006; 1: 173 - 181.

---. (2005). "Interpreting India, Identity, and Media from the Field: Exploring the Communicative Nature of the Exotic Other." Qualitative Inquiry. Sage Publications. Vol. 11 No. 4 (August 2005).

---. (2005). "Semiotics of Identity and the Shifting World Paradigm." In Semiotics 2003. Williamson and Deely, Eds. New York: Legas Publishing.

---. (2003). "The Re- signification of Risk in Marketing Whitewater: Ritual Initiation and the Mythology of River Culture." in Case Studies in Sport Communication Robert S. Brown and Daniel J. O'Rourke Eds. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing.

---. (2003). "The Necessary Ambiguity of Communication." SEMIOTICS 2002. Semiotic Society of America. Terry Pruett and John Deely Eds. Legas Publishing: New York.

---. (2003). "Semiotics of Identity and the Shifting World Paradigm." SEMIOTICS 2003. Semiotic Society of America. Terry Prewitt and John Deely Eds. New York, Toronto:Legas Publishing.

---. (2003). "Truth, Semiotics, and The Necessary Ambiguity of Communication." MICA Communications Review. Ahmedabad, India. 1: 2 41-48.

--- (2002). "Building Community Through Stories About Real Events: The Habitus of Broadcast Journalism." in Building Diverse Communities: Applications of Communication Research. Mark Orbie, Trevy McDonald, and T. Ford-Ahmed Eds. Cresskill, New Jersey: Hampton Press. 2002.

---. (2002). "Media Images and the Semiotics of September 11th, 2001." SEMIOTICS 2001. Semiotic Society of America. Scott Simpkins, and John Deely Eds. Legas Publishing: New York. 2002.

---. (2001). "The Semiotics of Media Images from INDEPENDENCE DAY and September 11, 2001." The American Journal of Semiotics. 17:3 (Fall 2001), 117-131.

---. (2001). "The Semiotic Analysis of Media Myth: A Proposal for an Applied Methodology. The American Journal of Semiotics. 17:2 (Summer 2001), 1-16.

--- .(2001)."A Semiotic Video Project: Teaching Semiotics Through Brent's Narrative Biography Of Peirce. SEMIOTICS 2000. Proceedings of the Semiotic Society of America. C.W. Spinks and S. Simpkins, Eds. Peter Lang Publishing: New York.

---. (2000). "Imaging the Other: An American Interpreting Signs of India." SEMIOTICS 1999. Proceedings of the Semiotic Society of America. C.W. Spinks and S. Simpkins, Eds. Peter Lang Publishing: New York.

---. (1998). "The Semiotics of Artificial Mythology and "The Far Side.'" SEMIOTICS 1997. Proceedings of the Semiotic Society of America. C.W. Spinks and John Deely, Eds. Peter Lang Publishing: New York. 1998.

Gaines, Elliot and Anthony Chila. (1998). "Teaching Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment: The Language of Lived-Experience in OMT Communication." Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. vol. 98, no 3. March 1998.

NCA Ethnography Division panel. Seattle, Washington. November 11, 2000.

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CREATIVE PUBLICATIONS

(a partial list of independent audio and video production projects)

Gaines, Elliot. ---. "Charles Sanders Peirce: Semiotics and the Logic of Pragmatism." Solo independent production on the life, pragmatism and semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce. Presented to the Semiotic Society of America Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting. Sept. 30, 2000. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.

---. "Kokosing: Building on Tradition." 2000. Producer/writer/editor. A corporate video commemorating the 50th anniversary of Kokosing Construction Inc., Fredericktown, Ohio, aired at Polaris in Columbus, Ohio, 12 August 2000. Produced with students at Ashland University.

---. "Zit Happens." Producer/director . 2000. A short story with Claymation. Completed with high school students at the Governor's Summer Institute for Gifted and Creative Students.

---. "Imaging the Exotic Other: An American View of India." 1999. Solo project. A video documentary and scholarly essay discussing India and the limits of perception in understanding and representing foreign cultures.

---. "Advertising in India." 1999. Producer/editor. With T. Ford- Ahmed, host, and Bhavna Gupta, guest and representative of Hindustan Thompson Advertising agency in New Delhi. World View Video production about the cultural perspectives taken up through TV advertising in India.

---. "The Power of You: United Way, 1999." Producer/writer/editor. Video production to promote the United Way of Ashland fund raising campaign in Ashland, Ohio. Produced as a service- learning project with students at Ashland University.

---. Playing on a Sunbeam, 1990. Audio cassette. EG- 112. Solo production of original music composed for video, theater and dance production.

--- . "Treasures of the Past." 1989. An educational documentary tracing the Civil War history and origins of the town of Lewisburg, WV conceived to promote appreciation for local landmarks.

---. The Crossroads of Lewisburg. 1990. A second documentary about the history of Lewisburg, WV focusing on the lifestyles and development of the region.

---. "Contemporary Medicine in Rural Appalachia: Be Part of the Legacy, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine." 1988. Solo Public Relations video project: written, directed, and produced for West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

---. "The Greenbrier Preschool." 1990. Public relations video documenting the mission and accomplishments of a preschool for children with handicaps and children with normal abilities.

---. "Sharps Country Store." Goldenseal, 6 (Spring, 1988): 17-23. Historical Journal of West Virginia Traditional Life. Historical research tracing the history and life experiences of a family store in a rural Appalachian community based on ethnography, recorded interviews, and print materials.

Souter, Michael, and Elliot Gaines. 1979. Night Sky: The Road That Takes Us Home, Night Sky-002100, Original record album of acoustic folk music.

Link to list of Conference Presentations

in New Zealand (2002) with a beached pygmy Wright whale

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