The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.

The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.

“JUSTICE-ORIENTED” NORM: Grappling with an unjust legacy bequeathed to the present by the past; seeking to right historic/social/cultural wrongs.

“JUSTICE-ORIENTED” FORMS: Facing to our left, chin tilted up. Looking straight ahead — as though confronting something from the past. Demands: ”We want___.” “Give me ___.” Higher calling: “Her new mission.” “Redefining the papacy.”

From a 2018 study of the CHARACTER space, within the larger framework of LEADERSHIP. What makes a leader tick?