Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

Although not all of the co-designers in the case-studies are inworld professionals, there is a level of
professionalism, group hierarchy, task division and hierarchical organization in the virtual design
teams. From a design theory perspective, the changes in the contexts and motivations of the
content generators in SL could support the idea that design is a form of communicative human
activity, rather than a professional status (Papanek 1984, Wisser 2006). Figure 9.1. shows the
framing of the potentials answers to the research question after the analysis of the three cases:
Figure 9. 1. The framing of the R.Q. after empirical analysis
The analysis of the three case studies and the discussions on the empirical findings will be
discussed in reference to the following six perspectives, by which I believe a multimodal semiotic
analysis of virtual places can contribute to various academic and professional fields of relevance:
The implications of analyzing virtual worlds as places, where I discuss the relevance of a
social semiotic approach and a place-oriented perspective with VWs research literature.
The methodological and conclusions on combining the analysis of multimodal placemaking
with the nexus analysis framework, which supports the design-oriented approach
of my analysis by focusing on the socio-technical aspects of co-design.
Social semiotics of design as construction of a sense of place, which is about the relations
between meaning, signification and design in virtual places.
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