Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

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Use of prims as semiotic units is most apparently manifested in design of PAL’s landscape. According to AmyLee, the 600+ colorful cubes construct PAL’s ground floor. These cubes are identical in size, but they are organized in random heights in order to form a semi-continuous ground surface, partially leaving areas open for water to fill and divide paths. The landscape idea was designed and built by AmyLee and Shaggy, who later presented the matured version of the design (which was initially filled with white cubes) to other members. Both Xavier and Curiza –the two Danish members of the design team – mention the intertextual associations they have noticed with the Danish modular construction toy LEGO: Xavier: We were talking if we should do it like LEGOs and make the LEGO dots on top of each box, but that was too much. But we talked about that for a certain period. Curiza: We met there and she presented the basic sim design, of all these cubes, and we were just “AmyLee, have you ever been to LEGO in Denmark” so actually we called it “PAL-LEGO” or “LEGO-PAL” or something. And I was almost ready to call LEGO to make them collaborate with us. But that was a bit funny because AmyLee replied that no she’d never been to Lego, she barely knew what it was. The emergent textual semiotic associations with LEGOs brought forth a new design idea, thus initiated another interpersonal discussion about the visual language and intertextual metaphors. Although the co-designers did not follow this path and created an authentic visual style with prims, similarities still exist between the two concepts. Here, it is possible to ask: Is it unusual that AmyLee and Shaggy never mentioned LEGO during concept design Can designers be expected to foresee every possible semiotic association with their objects in all social situations In this case, it was not the makers of the visual form - AmyLee or Shaggy- who made the semiotic association. Xavier and Curiza’s intertextual recognition of the building blocks (cubes) opened up a new semiotic trajectory for the development of design, which was discussed for a while but not followed as a guiding aesthetic principle. In fact, the 600+ cubes that construct PAL’s dominant aesthetics operate in all three socio-semiotic levels. Textually, cubes function as simple geometries of modular units of construction. Although all cubes have similar textual features, which AmyLee describes as “plain colors with shadows and scratches”, they vary in color and position. 227
Figure 8.28 Air-view of the PAL sim, and light-paths for walking between upper-level listening pods These variations lead to an emphasis on the experiential function, as the textual organization of cubes produce the ground plane and signify pathways to follow. Finally, the metaphorical associations to potential (real-world) places lead the co-designers to derive an interpersonal meaning potential, which was described by Xavier and Shaggy as a ‘pixel’ or ‘digital’ landscape: Shaggy: Basically the idea … was … an array of cubes with different heights like a digital landscape. (…) And when I had the sim filled with these cubes, I’ve done hills and valleys Xavier: The design is very abstract. It’s like a landscape but it’s made out of boxes. So it’s like a “pixel-landscape”, I think we can call it that. And that was the main idea. Furthermore, these interpersonal relations, such as Shaggy’s metaphorization of ‘hills and valleys’, lead Xavier to imagine it as a real-world landscape: Xavier: AmyLee built the landscape and she said “Come look, what do you think about it.” And I said “This is Scotland!”, we have a valley and a river in the bottom down at the valley, the stage that is one side of the mountain, and all the audience is on the other side when you look across the valley. Xavier, AmyLee and Curiza also comment on the later development of the ‘pixel landscape’ concept, especially in relation to the orange pathway that was designed to guide the visitor chronotopes toward various multimodal interaction spaces. Similar to the avenues and streets designed in Metrotopia to guide movement, PAL’s open-space layout also affords visual clues to particular directions embedded as textual elements. On the other hand, this orange pathway was the subject of another discussion between the co-designers: while Xavier aimed at a pure abstraction of the ‘pixel landscape’ concept, Emily’s intention was to guide the movements of visitors. Here, the decision making processes and the power relations within groups are also relevant in the analysis of a virtual place’s semiotic potentials form a sign-maker’s point of view. 228
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Prologue ‘So it isn’t the origi
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Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborat
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CHAPTER 3. Social semiotics, multim
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Official and third party viewers
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List of Figures Figure 4.1 Domains
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List of Tables Table 2. 1 Theories
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1. Introduction Virtual places and
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technologies introduce new social w
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innovation studies researchers have
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contextual factors of collaborative
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creative collaboration, and creativ
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In a multimodal and multi-method ap
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three case studies. This chapter al
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2. Perspectives in virtual worlds r
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making. In fact, it is possible to
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virtual world technologies, it sign
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collaborative actions that span qui
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mediated social interaction with ot
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their perceived effects on networke
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ackdrop for the understanding of us
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multidisciplinary working (Gu et al
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Socio-cultural perspectives on co-d
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innovation differs from Bonsu and D
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In a place-centric socio-semiotic v
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Theoretical Categories Concepts and
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3. Social semiotics, multimodality
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3.1. The social semiotic approach t
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structures and analyzing the contex
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designers’ purposeful orchestrati
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communication as an essential semio
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aspects of multimodal entities for
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and-paste logic of online media, th
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from the meaning-making practices,
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and Turner 2004). Social Informatic
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From this perspective, to build (an
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human action unfolds in ‘three-di
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genius loci idea to virtual places,
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Michael de Certeau’s (1984) analy
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semiotic practices, in all kinds of
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follow similar considerations of ex
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comparatively analyzing the multimo
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Here, the relevant question for pos
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3.6. Conclusion: social semiotics a
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Theoretical Categories Concepts and
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4. Theory and practice in design re
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elations. One example of the formal
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traditional distinctions between de
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Research for design aims to provide
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potentially offers to our senses. D
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In sum, I consider affordances and
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It is certainly important that desi
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A solely production-based account o
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design problems, while its variatio
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user-driven innovations. Von Hippel
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institutional contexts (Grossen 200
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Meaning-oriented design theories
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As explained in the Introduction ch
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The multimodal social semiotic appr
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them, and (b) experiential and inte
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From multimodal analysis, I draw ce
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phenomenology of time and space (an
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My analytical framework includes a
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characteristics of design in virtua
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6. Methodology Introduction This ch
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multimodal analysis in virtual worl
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sensibilities, and methods of analy
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are contextualized by the socio-tec
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perspectives as the primary source
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‣ Communication and Design in Vir
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perspectives and methods. The evolu
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designers are not necessarily geogr
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material resources either by visiti
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and selection of participants in co
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also the reason why this case study
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within each consequent case study,
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created/constituted in the situated
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than make overall statements and ge
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in-depth qualitative understanding
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7.1. The social actors and configur
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The core design team consists of Ca
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Curiza as the owner of the sim and
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and appreciation. He says “if you
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For Curiza, the hardest part of bei
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context 5 . On the other hand, this
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interviews, combined with findings
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Comparisons with game experiences a
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modification, combination and appro
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Shaggy, who recommends designers to
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he often used the Internet for “f
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The variety of comments from the wo
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technological developments but also
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the four Moons group, a few members
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esource for inspiration. Such inter
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inworld discussion about the costum
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Page 192 and 193: Although Shaggy’s perspective abo
Page 194 and 195: For Caitlyn, the major advantage of
Page 196 and 197: PAL’s design. According to AmyLee
Page 198 and 199: shared or collaborative edited by m
Page 200 and 201: collaborative practices in order to
Page 202 and 203: 8. Analyzing multimodal discourse i
Page 204 and 205: these places, their elevations and
Page 206 and 207: (Rank-scale/ EXPERIENTIAL / INTERPE
Page 208 and 209: Superheroes. Caitlyn, whose needs a
Page 210 and 211: Figure 8.1. View from Metrotopia: T
Page 212 and 213: Although Metrotopia was specificall
Page 214 and 215: The Fight Club Dojo is designed to
Page 216 and 217: Caitlyn: [W]e wanted to advertise,
Page 218 and 219: of expression and reception of digi
Page 220 and 221: In Curiza’s comment the introduct
Page 222 and 223: textual functions of the content (m
Page 224 and 225: their interest in such metaphors fo
Page 226 and 227: Synthesis of the findings on experi
Page 228 and 229: Caitlyn: [L]ooking at what makes up
Page 230 and 231: Curiza: I told Xavier “Xavier I w
Page 232 and 233: 0 Figure 8.22. (left) Metrotopia Pa
Page 234 and 235: and posters with positive political
Page 236 and 237: Synthesis of the findings on interp
Page 238 and 239: Figure 8.26. (left) The draw-bridge
Page 242 and 243: Modes and multimodal design element
Page 244 and 245: Xavier: It was very, EXTREMELY colo
Page 246 and 247: Texts and images are often used tog
Page 248 and 249: placement of various interactive lo
Page 250 and 251: 9. Conclusions and discussions 9.1.
Page 252 and 253: and the lack of prior experience, p
Page 254 and 255: in flux in inworld collaborative de
Page 256 and 257: potentials, and aim to reinforce th
Page 258 and 259: Although not all of the co-designer
Page 260 and 261: As mentioned in the literature surv
Page 262 and 263: Drawing on this point, I also consi
Page 264 and 265: (Kress, 2010). The analysis of the
Page 266 and 267: although he also acknowledges the r
Page 268 and 269: creative activities and reduce the
Page 270 and 271: Further directions for research The
Page 272 and 273: Bakhtin, M.M. (1986). Speech, genre
Page 274 and 275: Charmaz, K., (2002). Qualitative in
Page 276 and 277: Fischer, G. and Giaccardi, E., (200
Page 278 and 279: Halliday, M.A.K. (2007). Language a
Page 280 and 281: Jones, J.C., (2009). What is design
Page 282 and 283: Lemke, J.L. (2005). Place, pace and
Page 284 and 285: Norman, D.A. (2008). The way I see
Page 286 and 287: Reinhard, C. D., & Dervin, B. (2010
Page 288 and 289: Thackara, J. (2005). In the bubble:
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Summary in English Computer-generat
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Dansk resumé af afhandlingen Compu
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Interview Guide (Metrotopia and PAL
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Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

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