Discovering and Interpreting Meaning in Finnish and American Codes of Communication

Information technologies bring into view not only ideas and their transmission via electronic devices, but also means of expression and the meanings they assume for readers / listeners / viewers. This transformation -- from information through technology to expressions and their meanings -- is an intrinsic part of any electronically mediated communication. This project explores one such electronically mediated text, Tango Finlandia, a segment of the popular American news program, 60 Minutes, as it has been broadcast and discussed prominently in the United States and Finland. Analyses of exchanges between Finnish and American students demonstrate how the "exact same" televisual information and the "exact same" English words convey information that is transformed into two different expressive systems with very different cultural meanings.