Thank you for the question, Dr. Alvermann. The current project is focused on investigating intercultural understanding, digital competencies, and "identity kits" shown in the process and the final products of cross-cultural collaboration (Gee, 1989). However, I think your question opens a new research realm related to the current project. In the current project, students will engage in cross-cultural collaboration to create their groups' websites. I believe that we can also explore students' identities as website designers by analyzing the process of students' collaborative work, the content of websites and the design of the websites. Reflecting on my experiences of creating websites, I think that we can understand website designers' identities by looking into the content and design of their websites. However, in the current project the aspect of students' website design will be limited because they use the Google Site platform which does not provide full-fledged website customization features. However, I think that the content and the aspects of multimodal literacies in students' websites can reveal their identities. Dr. Alvermann, thank you for giving me the opportunity to think about people's identities as website designers!!

References

Gee, J. P. (1989). LITERACY, DISCOURSE, AND LINGUISTICS: INTRODUCTION. The Journal of Education, 171(1), 5–176.

I agree, Jeonghun Oh, that becoming aware of "the content and the aspects of multimodal literacies in students' websites can reveal their identities."  What I'm not clear on, however, is what you mean by this statement:

"In the current project the aspect of students' website design will be limited because they use the Google Site platform which does not provide full-fledged website customization features."

There are limitations in life, in general. I understand that. But what are your assumptions underlying this statement?  I hope I am not pressing you too much. I do not know the answer to my own question, if that is of any comfort. 

Dr. Alvermann, thank you for the further question. The statement came from the strengths and weaknesses of Google Site platform that the students should use in this project. Google's collaborative identities and intentions as a corporate are greatly reflected to the Google Site. Google wanted it to be easy making websites through the Google Site platform at the expense of limiting users' creativity in making websites. It means that the design of websites in the Google Site platform will be already set up by the Google Site platform. However, it does not mean that students cannot imbue the Google sites with their design thinking. Therefore, in terms of the aspects of the website design, I think that the websites created by students' groups in this project will be the interactive results of students' collaborative identities and Google's collaborative identities. Some secondary school students are capable of creating websites from scratch by coding by themselves. I think that the websites created by those students show the students' identities as web designers fully in terms of design aspects. In the current project, we plan to focus more on students' multimodal literacies and "identity kits" shown in the students' group's content in the websites rather than the design of websites because in the current project the website design is largely dependent on the design themes of Google Site platform. Dr. Alvermann, I hope that my answer could explain my previous statement further. Have a great day, Dr. Alvermann!!