Indexicality of language and the art of creating treasures

Matti J. Rantanen

doi:10.1145/1753326.1753371

Indexicality of language and the art of creating treasures

Matti J. Rantanen

Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The indexicality of language refers to the linkage between the language and the situation of use for determining the meaning of what is being said. In this paper I describe how a player of a location-based treasure hunt game called geocaching uses indexicality of language in creating clues when hiding treasures. Based on this account, the skill, I argue, in creating an exciting treasure depends on understanding the disjunction between the context in which the clue is first interpreted and the context in which it receives its final meaning. An interesting clue should therefore contain both a literal or conventional meaning and a situated meaning, and the situated meaning should only arise when the player is close enough to the treasure.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI 2010 - The 28th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Conference Proceedings
Pages	301-304
Number of pages	4
Volume	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/1753326.1753371
Publication status	Published - 2010
MoE publication type	A4 Article in a conference publication
Event	ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Atlanta, United States Duration: 10 Apr 2010 → 15 Apr 2010 Conference number: 28

Conference

Conference	ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Abbreviated title	ACM CHI
Country	United States
City	Atlanta
Period	10/04/2010 → 15/04/2010

Keywords

context
field study
geocache
gps (global positioning system)
indexicality
language
location-based computing

Access to Document

10.1145/1753326.1753371

Link to publication in Scopus

Cite this

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title = "Indexicality of language and the art of creating treasures",

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