Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

to the analysis of the case-study data, and comparatively discusses the ways in which meaning
potentials in virtual places are constructed in different contexts. In this part, I re-order the three
meta-functions in my analysis, and present the finding of the textual meta-function before the
interpersonal. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the textual meta-function is about the internal
structure and the cohesion with the environment; therefore the analysis of the building blocks and
the spatial organization of virtual places relate to the previous section on the experiential metafunction.
In addition, the analysis of the textual function includes the multimodal elements of
design as semiotic components of the overall sign system; therefore it offers a bridge between the
analyses of experiential and the interpersonal meta-functions. The final section of analysis focuses
on the interpersonal meta-function and discusses the meaning potentials in terms of signification
of rhetorical intentions and the use of intertextual metaphors to create a visual identity of the
virtual places. This section also analyzes the relations between signification of particular design
concepts and their roles in creating a sense of place through social presence. The conclusion of this
chapter also concludes the overall analysis, and serves as a bridge to the final chapter about the
conclusions and discussions. In the following Conclusions and Discussions chapter, I will present
an overall synthesis of the social actors, mediational means, collaborative processes and
multimodal products of collaborative design as the four central analytical components, and discuss
certain epistemological, ontological and methodological implications of this framework for the
social semiotic analysis of virtual place-making.
8.1. Units of multimodal analysis and the systemic functional matrix
In the following section, I present an analytical model to study collaboratively designed virtual
places and artifacts within different scales of construction as particular multimodal sign systems
(see table 8.1). To generate the analytical model, I revise O’Toole’s (1994, 2004) systemic
functional analysis of architecture in combination with Lemke’s (2005, 2009) analysis of
chronotopes and heterochrony in virtual environments. This perspective provides the
consideration of movement and time in relation to the affordances of the collaborative platform;
therefore, it supports the experiential and multimodal view of social semiotics. In doing so, I aim to
reconsider the systemic functional model, and generate a new framework for multimodal analysis
of virtual places and artifacts.
The empirical grounding of the analysis in this chapter is found in the visual recordings of the
places and artifacts in SL, as well as the interview data and the findings from participatory
observations. In this way, I refer to the co-designers’ experiences with the perceived affordances
and constraints of SL in the process of constructing these places. Thus, I discuss how the codesigners
collectively decide on the style and the contents of the entire places (sims), divisions of
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