ABSTRACT

This chapter shows semiotic change over time, linked loosely to a very broad-brush account of social changes. It also focuses on social change in the West, broadly speaking, people's attention is on changes hovering between the micro and the meso level that is, at the level of individuals and social institutions. The chapter develops an account of social and semiotic changes using examples from texts produced by children and for children and adults. People also begin to explore the role of online platforms and touch technologies in the contemporary semiotic landscape. New online and digital platforms widen possibilities of access and participation, expanding the range of potential instructors and learners, as well as the range of semiotic resources available for designing learning environments. The increasing mobility of sign-makers produces new occasions and forms of sign-making, in which semiotic resources brought forth by different cultures are drawn together.