Keynote Speaker:

Massimo Leone currently serves as Professor of Philosophy of Communication at the University of Turin, Italy, and is a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. His research spans interdisciplinary fields including semiotics, philosophy of communication, visual culture and digital media. Centering on the generation, transmission and evolution of meaning across diverse cultural contexts, he focuses on cutting-edge technologies and semiotic systems. With an extensive body of publications, he ranks among the world’s leading scholars in semiotics and communication studies.

Main Content:

Sensors have become a core component of modern life, widely embedded in residences, hospitals, urban infrastructure, transportation vehicles, smartphones, wearable devices, ecological systems and smart city facilities. Powered by sensors, human society can accurately observe complex realities and efficiently address various challenges in healthcare, transportation, public safety, ecological conservation and social governance. Nevertheless, sensors are far more than mere data collectors. From a semiotic perspective, sensors translate objective reality into signs: they filter, transcode and categorize information, laying the groundwork for subsequent interpretation and decision-making. This lecture offers the first semiotic analysis of sensors as sign-mediated media. Drawing on everyday examples and extending to sophisticated technological scenarios, it investigates how sensors build mediating connections between human bodies, physical spaces, data and diverse institutions, with a particular focus on sensor governance. While sensor-based technological frameworks facilitate public health surveillance, environmental regulation, smart city administration and livelihood improvement, they also compel academia to conduct rigorous reflections on data interpretation, rights and liability allocation, information transparency and social trust. Sensing technologies, capable of identifying risks, also reshape the relationships among individuals, organizations and the natural environment. Accordingly, sensor governance cannot focus solely on technical performance; it requires multi-dimensional deliberation rooted in culture, ethics and semiotics. This talk aims to establish a balanced research framework: semiotics does not hinder technological progress, but instead fosters sound technological development by clarifying how data turns into signs, how signs translate into decisions, and how decisions shape community life. A semiotic-philosophical approach on sensors helps cultivate a responsible development philosophy for intelligent infrastructure, enabling coordinated advancement of technological innovation, social coordination and human dignity.

Lecture Information:

Time: June 30, 2026 (Tue), 16:20-17:50

Location: Coffee Beanery

Organizer: Advanced Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (AI-HSS)