Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

elaborate on my particular focus on the collaborative design of virtual places by the help of domainspecific
theories and discussions on design as socially constructed and constructive practice, the
semiotic nature of its social functions. Following this logic, I argue that designing virtual places and
artifacts includes construction of functional representations, through the intended affordances and
constraints of which the co-production of user experience takes place. In the case of user-driven
design in virtual worlds such as SL, these practices refer to not only use/consumption of prefabricated
products, but co-production and constant peer evaluation of the co-produced places and
artifacts. Therefore, in this chapter I discuss how research on participatory design and user-driven
innovation can help expanding our understanding of co-design and co-production practices in
VWs. On the other hand, my focus is primarily on the role of design in construction of meaning
potentials through forms and functions, mainly in relation to the systemic functional framing of
experiential, interpersonal and textual meta-functions in social semiotics (i.e. Halliday 1978, 2007,
O’Toole 1994, 2004, Kress 2010).
Finally, I outline particular theories and research on (co-)designing VWs, and task/object-oriented
collaboration in VEs. In this section, the main focus is on practices and sense-makings of users in
order to participate in the making of the communicative environments, and co-construct
meaningful activities within them. Here I exemplify my arguments with various research studies on
user collaboration and creativity by using different media platforms and affordances. One purpose
of discussing a variety of collaborative technologies is to relate the discussions on ‘affordances’ in
this chapter with the notions such as ‘meaning potentials’ and ‘modes’, which are key terms for
social semiotics as described in the previous chapter. This second analytical chapter ends with a
wrap-up of my synthesis of reflections from design research, in relation to the previously
mentioned social semiotic framework and the following methodology. Here I build my central
discussions on three theoretical aspects: designing as construction of meaningful and functional
representations, collaboration as a design strategy to tackle ill-defined design problems, and the
role of design knowledge in co-production of user-generated content and user-driven innovation.
4.1. Defining Design: Design as Practice, Product and Discourse
German design and cybernetics professor Klaus Krippendorff traces the roots of etymology of
design back to the Latin de + signare, which means ‘making something, distinguishing it by a sign,
giving it significance, designating its relation to other things; owners, users, or gods’ (Krippendorff
1998). Professor of design, management, and information systems Richard Buchanan (2001a,
2001b) proposes two types of definitions for design: descriptive definitions which single out one
particular aspect of the subject and explore its socio-cultural dimensions in depth, and formal
definitions which identify several features and tend to propose a balanced formulation of their
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