Viscosity Test: How do cultural codes and themes “stick together”?
Joshua Glenn, Ramona Lyons
Via our analyses, we semioticians are very adept at surfacing and dimensionalizing the socioculturally “viscous” forces at play— within a given product category, say, or a cultural space.
What we’re not so good at, much of the time, is demonstrating to others (…), how signs cluster together in codes, and codes cluster together in themes… in a way that is quick and fun, and therefore highly relevant and engaging.
Earlier this year, we began to experiment with various quick, entertaining games and challenges that offer a hands-on demonstration of how cultural codes and themes “stick together.” We propose to début this game, and play-test it with their colleagues, at Semiofest Warsaw 2026.
With the goal of developing a quick, fun, playful way to demonstrate to non-semioticians how signs cluster together in codes, and codes cluster together into larger themes, we have adapted the codes and themes surfaced via our analysis of OLD WEST movies, TV shows, and videogames… into a deck of story cards.
Therefore, our story deck contains 78 illustrated cards — i.e., three examples apiece for each of our 26 codes. The cards depict characters, locations, scenarios, weapons, robots, aliens, and other Old West-themed world-building and story-telling elements.
Via this experiential, interactive framework, and guided by Josh and Ramona, the workshop participants will actively interpret signs and collaboratively create meaning through discussion and negotiation.
After each challenge, we’ll reveal how we would have resolved it… and then we’ll discuss what we might learn from any differences of opinion.
Ramona Lyons
Ramona Lyons, Ph.D. is an American applied semiotician with a multifaceted background in culture, visual communication, and brand strategy. She heads LUCID SEMIOTICS, a Bay Area-based consultancy. Most recently, Ramona has participated on Semiofest Sessions panels for Semiotics and Cinema and Medical Semiotics. When she isn’t translating culture to help clients anticipate change, Ramona explores her love of film and the arts through obsessive media consumption and writing. Her thoughts about film, books, and other mass media are available online, including through HILOBROW.
Joshua Glenn
Josh Glenn is an American consulting semiotician based in upstate New York. He is cofounder of the consultancy Semiovox, editor of the websites SEMIOVOX and HILOBROW, and editor of The MIT Press’s proto-sf RADIUM AGE series. His books as writer and/or editor include The Idler’s Glossary, Significant Objects, the family activities guide Unbored, and the 2025 anthology Before Superman: Superhumans of the Radium Age. Since 2021 he has helped organize Semiofest’s online “sessions.”