Ideogram in the Digital Age

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The current digital era of the twenty first century relies upon images and intuition. Technology is driven by the coordination of images and texts. This merging is known as the iconotext, and it can also be seen in the Chinese characters. It implies that the Chinese characters can play a role in an emerging communication method, through its combination of icons with texts. The Chinese character is setting back the clock on the history of civilization.
This paper provides an overview of the development of script, and presents Chinese as an exception within the development of languages. The paper summarizes the history of Chinese characters, examines how the Chinese characters have survived the challenges of the digital age, and explains the potential of the Chinese language to influence the development of iconotext.
Looking back on the developing process of characters, we could notice the change from the hieroglyph to the phonogram. This study shows the Chinese characters will survive demonstrating their pictographic power in the twenty first century and will expand their cultural territories on the cyber space more than ever before.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Abstract
• 1. Introduction
• 2. From Thought to Picture, Pictogram to Phonogram
• 3. History of the Chinese Chaaracters
• 4. The Chinese Character in the Digital Age : Chinese Lange Has Survived the Challenges of the Digital Age.
• 5. Iconotext : The Chinese Characters Are Immortal
• 6. Conclusions
• Bibliography