Die Kultur der Komputation

Digitale Bilder als Index?

Abstract

Do digital images fit into the category of the index outlined by Charles Sanders Peirce? This article is dedicated to answering this question by examining 'digital images' as carriers of hopes and fears, as means of communication, as objects and cultural artefacts. The analytical differentiation between output and code leads to the insight that both have to be considered as potential signifiers in their own realm which are solely related by algorithms. These algorithms themselves represent traces of a cultural context by acting as translators of meaning. The meaning itself is present in all forms of the 'digital image'.