Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

Figure 8.26. (left) The draw-bridge at east-end of Metrotopia’s main street , which separates the sim
from neighbors
Figure 8.27. (right) PAL's color-coded music zones and the “pixel landscape” made of cubes with
“natural” colors
On the other hand, division of space in PAL demonstrates an important experiential potential. As
visitors move their avatars within the sim and enter different zones, the music they hear through
SL changes.
AmyLee: in fact, each area contains one stream. you can define areas ("parcels") on the sim
and give each a different stream . a parcel will have a style of music and will be the same
whatever the altitude. [this is] why the rock pod is at the vertical of the rock area on lower
deck, for example. theres a link between where you are and the music you get: thats how sl
works
The visual and structural connections between the elevated places and the ground plane are
conceptualized differently in the two projects. In Metrotopia, elevations are usually embedded into
the sim’s design as rooftops, where various interactive and/or multimodal elements are placed on
top of high-rise buildings. This design strategy was partly a result of the co-designers’
appropriation of chosen genre conventions as interpersonal meaning potentials of familiar
Superhero narratives. However, in PAL’s design, the emphasis on non-conventional aesthetics of
virtuality becomes more apparent. Elevations from ground floor to the ‘flying’ pods are visualized
by colorful light cones, emphasizing the structural affordances (of a ‘gravity-free’ world) in contrast
to the physical constraints of RL.
The workshop project that I will revisit under this title is Venus and the Four Moon group’s
lipstick-shaped spaceship (figure 8.3), particularly how students elevated particular design
elements. In this case, experiential meaning potentials were related to signification of the practical
function of the object (a spaceship with weapons), while the interpersonal features on symbolizing
‘feminism’ were visible in their choice of specific forms and colors (two red lipsticks as engines).
The area in which the spaceship ought to be navigated is designed as a control room for the four
(goddess-)avatars to fit in, and students designed chairs for navigators to sit. This cockpit is placed
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