Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

For Deacon et al. (2007) the researcher and the researched can ‘inhabit same universe of discourse’
and be in relationship” for continuous objective assessment, since “observation includes a range of
research methods which allow direct access to the social behavior being analyzed” (Deacon et al.
2007: 250). In this perspective, participants are not merely objects of research but they are subjects
with individual and social consciousness. Therefore, I consider research activity as a way of
understanding and learning about phenomena, and believe that most advanced form of learning
takes place when researchers place themselves within the context (Flyvbjerg 2006). In order to
experience how the virtual places and artifacts are co-produced as multimodal semiotic entities by
the users of SL, I also chose to share and, to a certain degree, participate in the social practices. My
intention was be aware of the potentials as well as the pitfalls of the technology as they are
experienced by the participants, but still be able to keep an analytical distance. My choice of
participating in the social context as efficiently and productively as it was contextually possible
results from of my interest in exploring the social environments for collaborative design in SL, and
expanding the scope of research by including insights from all possible forms types of creative
practices within the world.
On the other hand, as the nature of participation requests, I had to take part in the cultural
processes personally at times. In some significant stages of development of Metrotopia, for
instance, I had to make decisions as I became more competent with the design culture and
tool/resource structure of SL. In a sense, my own experiences as an industrial designer with
experience in exhibition space design in RL and a ‘newbie’ in SL, offered me a chance to do a pilot
‘ethnography on myself and my learning process of SL’. I believe within a multiple-case study
research, and as the first of three, Metrotopia project provided a valuable learning opportunity,
which I utilized to increase my analytical competence and confidence in the interpretation stage.
Similarly, in the “Communication and Design in Virtual Worlds” Workshop, my position as the coeducator
required me to teach, monitor, coordinate and evaluate student processes. Should have
the students been introduced to building in SL with another approach, maybe their experiences
and sense-makings would differ in some unprecedented ways. The first pedagogical and
methodological solution for this potential problem was to provide students with a variety of
physical, online and inworld resources, such as tutorials, exercises, YouTube videos, and widen
their perspectives on what can be done in this world. Another methodological decision was to
introduce students to the internal market and society of SL, and not limiting the design project to
the given resources in a restricted virtual space, but instead, motivating them to explore, find and
appropriate inworld resources as they learn about the virtual world. As mentioned earlier, I aim to
focus on not only the practical functions and affordances of interface tools, but also the social
contexts in which these are used as semiotic resources in design. This particular consideration was
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