Ambiguities in Knowledge Production: Multimodal Analysis of Discourse and Dramaturgy in Public Participation GIS Experiments

A web-based collaborative-argumentation mapping experiment, which was used as part of a planning process in the city of Tampere, Finland, revealed a need for analytical tools to interpret the users' meaning making with this particular public participation GIS instrument. The main reason for this was the complexity of mediated interaction between different actors in and by means of the application: written comments, graphic symbols, and aerial photographs were combined to make meaning in particular context-specific situations. An analytical framework is discussed; it is shown to have the potential to grasp this type of signification process by studying the dynamics of different semiotic means and the production of discourse and settings in practice.