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Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

Coordinating joint design work: the role of communication and artefacts

Mark Perry, +1 more
- 01 Jul 1998 - 
- Vol. 19, Iss: 3, pp 273-288
TLDR
The findings suggest that design and engineering is constructed through the interactions of multiple actors, and that artefacts and representations of the design process have a key function in the organisation of this work.
About
This article is published in Design Studies.The article was published on 1998-07-01 and is currently open access. It has received 212 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Design education & Design technology.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Change and customisation in complex engineering domains

TL;DR: In this article, a case study on change and customisation to existing products in the aerospace industry is presented, where the authors present a comprehensive analysis of the problems and processes associated with product change.
Journal ArticleDOI

Boundary Negotiating Artifacts: Unbinding the Routine of Boundary Objects and Embracing Chaos in Collaborative Work

TL;DR: This research presents the results of a year-long ethnographic study of collaborative work, specifically the multidisciplinary collaborative design of a museum exhibition, and suggests that artifacts can serve to establish and destabilize protocols themselves and thatifacts can be used to push boundaries rather than merely sailing across them.
Journal ArticleDOI

Intermediary Objects as a Means to Foster Co-operation inEngineering Design

TL;DR: It is argued that co-operation is aparticular way to co-ordinate an industrial activity and that it is particularly suited tocollaborative design activity and the concept of ``intermediary object'' is proposed asceptual framework for the involvement of objects in the design process.
Journal ArticleDOI

Collaboration patterns in computer supported collaborative designing

TL;DR: In three of the teams, the design process turned out to be highly collaborative in respect of students developing a joint design object and being intensely involved in organizing the design Process.
Journal ArticleDOI

A co-operation framework for product–process integration in engineering design

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors stress the importance of artefacts as intermediary objects in the design process and more specifically in the development of co-operative processes, and propose a conceptual framework to provide a foundation to develop instrumental settings for design co-operation.
References
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The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action

R.J. Bogumil
TL;DR: In this article, the reflective practitioner how professionals think in action arena, searching the book that you love to read first or find an interesting book that will make you want to read.
Book

Cognition in the wild

TL;DR: Welcome aboard navigation as computation the implementation of contemporary pilotage the organization of team performances communication navigation as a context for learning learning in context organizational learning cultural cognition.
Journal ArticleDOI

The reflective practitioner : how professionals think in action

TL;DR: In this paper, the crisis of confidence in professional knowledge from technical rationality to reflection-in-action is discussed and its implications for the professions and their place in society are discussed.
Frequently Asked Questions (14)
Q1. What contributions have the authors mentioned in the paper "Co-ordinating joint design work: the role of communication and artefacts" ?

In this paper, the authors provide empirical observations which tend to reinforce general conclusions about the design process proposed by social scientists working in this field and suggest that computer-based design tools need to go beyond the categories of design or communication technologies, and be designed as technologies flexible enough to support both these dimensions of design work. 

Other design process artefacts carried information about planned activities and played a key role in the co-ordination of the design work. 

They included drawings (of various kinds), a CAD system, a physical scale model, a dayfile, a mailing system, a filing system, annotation and marking tools, desks and walls to pin drawings on, duplication and shrinking technology (photocopier), and communication technologies (telephone and fax). 

Such applications identified as facilitating colocated or distributed design work include: shared screen (whiteboard), shared editor, designer’s notepad, videoconference, intelligent agents for conflict detection, issue based information system (IBIS), work-flow management, people locators and awareness system, and virtual meeting room. 

When sending drawings, it was usual to first shrink them on a photocopier, then to send them by fax, although detail (colour or legibility) was occasionally lost. 

The early stage of transforming architectural drafts into engineering drawings was nearing completion, and detailing of the “fittingout” of the building was beginning, including building services and non-structural features. 

1 0A third form of communication between individuals and organisations involved the transfer of design representations, in the form of artefacts. 

Groupware systems designers are increasingly creating systems with a view to supporting the work of design and engineering groups. 

Two teams within the BEG were studied, the Mechanical and Electrical group (M&E, usually four engineers), and the structural engineering group (seven engineers). 

the amount of communication taking place through the telephone and in unscheduled chats suggests that, in both projects, there was a great deal of informal verbal interaction taking place in parallel with the relatively formal drafting work. 

Building engineers transform the conceptual specifications of an architect into forms that can withstand stresses placed upon them, and ensure that the design conforms to appropriate regulations and standards. 

The structural engineers were distributed over several sites, but three of their members (including the senior engineer) worked together in the office, separated from the M&E team by several partitions. 

they rarely used the package to create production drawings, but rather sketches of the rotor, parts of the pump, or test rig. 

The potential range of people who may be consulted during design is extensive, and these may be external to the organisation in which the design group is located (clients, model users, managers of users or clients, suppliers, technical experts, other designers), or internal (production personnel, organisational managers).