Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

projects in each case of study show similarities in terms of their environments and tools for
content-generation, but also differences in terms of the contexts and products of designing. The
collaborative practice is an important criterion for the selection of cases. The three case studies are:
- Metrotopia: participant observation of the multidisciplinary design process of a virtual
laboratory (Metrotopia) and interviews with co-designers.
- Pop Art Lab (PAL): observations and in-depth interviews with the co-designers of a
streaming music sim in SL funded by a Danish national cross-library organization
- Student workshop: Communication and Design in VW: teaching, observations and focus
group interviews with fifteen international students
The participants are often referred to as designers, co-designers and builders throughout the text.
This difference in classification results from their context-bounded roles within the overall process
of semiosis; in that, designer is used to describe a participant engaging in an individual content
generation activity, whereas co-designers connote all direct contributors of collaborative projects
whether they create objects or only ideas. Builder is the native term, which is used by contentgenerating
residents of SL to connote builders of 3D objects. This term is often used in the
interviews in order to communicate with appropriate terminologies.
A range of data collection methods has been used depending on the context and availability of
observable participant practices and their experiences. The mixed methodological approach has
provided an overall analytical mapping of how residents make sense of affordances for co-creating
content. The mixed methods data collection has enabled me to observe instances of ideageneration,
problem-solving and knowledge sharing while concurrently questioning how designers
make sense of these processes with relation to their general virtual world experience. In-depth
interviews have served this purpose.
Interventions and re-assessment of empirical categories, as well as methods of triangulation and
participation are considered during different stages of the process. Follow-up interviews and longterm
partnerships with some of the participants have allowed me to access cases during various
‘moments’ of collaboration. Furthermore, by participating in collaborative design and learning
activities, it has been possible to gain first-hand experience with building, during simultaneous
observations of SL builders and builder communities in their cultural contexts. Participant
observation throughout the design process also enabled me to examine the changing roles of
various actors during several inworld and offline stages of the process (Hine 2005, Deacon et al.
2007). Also, in-depth interviews with expert designers and novice users (or students) offered the
chance to initiate discussions about the past experiences and reflections.
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