Supporting Indirect, Collaborative Design with Integrated Knowledge-Based Design Environments

Gerhard Fischer1, Jonathan Grudin2, Andreas Lemke4, Raymond McCall3, Jonathan Ostwald1, Brent Reeves1, and Frank Shipman1

1 Department of Computer Science and Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309

2 Department of Computer Science, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

3 College of Environmental Design and Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309

4 GMD-F4, Dolivostrasse 15 D-6100 Darmstadt, Germany

Abstract

We are developing a conceptual framework and a demonstration system for collaboration among members of design teams when direct communication among these members is impossible or impractical. Our research focuses on the long-term, indirect communication needs of project teams rather than the short-term needs occurring in face-to-face communication or electronic mail. We address these needs with integrated, domain-oriented design environments. Our conceptual framework and our system building efforts address two major issues: (1) how does individual work blend into project work? (especially in large projects that span great distances and time); and (2) what role do the work objects play in such a coordination?

We use a specific domain-oriented design environment (NetworkHYDRA supporting the design of computer networks) to illustrate our approach, and we discuss HYDRA as the underlying domain-independent, multifaceted architecture for design environments.

Keywords

Computer-supported cooperative work; integrated, domain-oriented design environments; design support systems; multifaceted architecture; long-term, indirect collaboration; seeds; end-user modifiability; relevance to the task at hand; reflection-in-action

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the members of the Human-Computer Communication group at the University of Colorado, who contributed to the conceptual framework and the systems discussed in this paper. We are grateful also to and (2) Hal Eden, Ken Klingenstein, Evi Nemeth, and David Wood, who provided expertise in the Network Design domain. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. IRI-9015441 and by the NYNEX Science and Technology Center.

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