Field and dynamic nature of sensemaking. Theoretical and methodological implications.

In this paper a dynamic and semiotic model of meaning (DSMM) is presented. According to it: a) meaning is the emergent product of a field dynamics; b) meaning consists of the way signs iteratively combine with each other in the local circumstances of communication; c) meaning is bivalent, i.e. it emerges from the iterative mutually constitutive tension between two components: an observable side, the Significance in Praesentia (SIP), namely the portion of the world used as sign, and a latent side, the Significance in Absentia (SIA), namely the pertinent gestalt of linkages among signs defining the condition of interpretability of the former. In the second part of the work some methodological implications of DSMM for the study of meaning are highlighted. In particular, emphasis is given to the wisdom of adopting a methodology being able to model the contingency and situativity of socio-symbolic phenomena