Computer Supported Collaborative Design Research Articles

Students’ perception of risks in computer-supported collaborative design teams

AbstractThe recent Covid-19 pandemic created an unprecedented transition to distributed design team collaboration in education and industry, and with the sudden change in working environments, researchers must consider novel risks introduced to the design process. This research established that student perception of risk differs through personal experience and the impact of risks are greater when working online. Recommendations are made on how these risks could be mitigated further to allow the successful implantation of distributed design through computed-supported environment in education.

Computer-Supported Collaborative Design of Standardized Clinical Cases.

The creation of computer-supported collaborative clinical cases is an area of research in teaching that has been widely studied. However, the reuse of cases and their sharing with other platforms is a problem that encapsulates knowledge in isolated platforms without interoperability. This paper proposes a workflow ecosystem for the collaborative design and distribution of clinical cases through online computing platforms that (i) allow medical students to create clinical cases collaboratively in a dedicated environment; (ii) make it possible to export these clinical cases in terms of the HL7 FHIR interoperability standard; (iii) provide support to transform imported cases into learning object repositories, and (iv) use e-learning standards (e.g., IMS CP, SCORM) to incorporate this content into widely-used learning management systems, letting medical students democratize a valuable knowledge that would otherwise be confined within proprietary platforms. To demonstrate the feasibility of developing a workflow ecosystem based on IT platforms to enable collaborative creation, export, and deployment of clinical cases. The ecosystem infrastructure for computer-supported collaborative design of standardized clinical cases consists of three platforms: (i) Mosaico, a platform used in the design of clinical cases; (ii) Clavy, a tool for the flexible management of learning object repositories, which is used to orchestrate the transformation and processing of these clinical cases; and (iii) Moodle, a Learning Management System (LMS) that is geared towards publishing the processed clinical cases and delivering their course deployment stages in IMS CP/SCORM format. The generation of cases in Mosaico is exported in the HL7 FHIR interoperability standard to Clavy, responsible for creating and deploying a learning object in Moodle. The main result is an interoperable ecosystem that demonstrates the feasibility of automating the stages of collaborative clinical case creation, export through HL7 FHIR, and deployment in an LMS, enabling the generation of IMS Content Packages associated with the original Mosaico clinical cases that can be deployed in conventional third-party LMSs. This allows the democratization and sharing of clinical cases to different platforms in standard and interoperable formats. In this article, we have proposed, implemented, and demonstrated the feasibility of developing a standards-based workflow that interoperates multiple platforms with heterogeneous technologies to create, transform and deploy clinical cases online. This achieves the objective of transforming the created cases into a platform for online deployment in a learning management system.

Using social interaction trace data and context to predict collaboration quality and creative fluency in collaborative design learning environments

Abstract Engineering design typically occurs as a collaborative process situated in specific context such as computer-supported environments, however there is limited research examining the dynamics of design collaboration in specific contexts. In this study, drawing from situative learning theory, we developed two analytic lenses to broaden theoretical insights into collaborative design practices in computer-supported environments: (a) the role of spatial and material context, and (b) the role of social interactions. We randomly assigned participants to four conditions varying the material context (paper vs. tablet sketching tools) and spatial environment (private room vs commons area) as they worked collaboratively to generate ideas for a toy design task. We used wearable sociometric badges to automatically and unobtrusively collect social interaction data. Using partial least squares regression, we generated two predictive models for collaboration quality and creative fluency. We found that context matters materially to perceptions of collaboration, where those using collaboration-support tools perceived higher quality collaboration. But context matters spatially to creativity, and those situated in private spaces are more fluent in generating ideas than those in commons areas. We also found that interaction dynamics differ: synchronous interaction is important to quality collaboration, but reciprocal interaction is important to creative fluency. These findings provide important insights into the processual factors in collaborative design in computer-supported environments, and the predictive role of context and conversation dynamics. We discuss the theoretical contributions to computer-supported collaborative design, the methodological contributions of wearable sensor tools, and the practical contributions to structuring computer-supported environments for engineering design practice.

A novel systematic method to evaluate computer-supported collaborative design technologies

Selection of suitable computer-supported collaborative design (CSCD) technologies is crucial to facilitate successful projects. This paper presents the first systematic method for engineering design teams to evaluate and select the most suitable CSCD technologies comparing technology functionality and project requirements established in peer-reviewed literature. The paper first presents 220 factors that influence successful CSCD. These factors were then systematically mapped and categorised to create CSCD requirement statements. The novel evaluation and selection method incorporates these requirement statements within a matrix and develops a discourse analysis text processing algorithm with data from collaborative projects to automate the population of how technologies impact the success of CSCD in engineering design teams. This method was validated using data collected across 3 years of a student global design project. The impact of this method is the potential to change the way engineering design teams consider the technology they use and how the selection of appropriate tools impacts the success of their CSCD projects. The development of the CSCD evaluation matrix is the first of its kind enabling a systematic and justifiable comparison and technology selection, with the aim of best supporting the engineering designers collaborative design activity.

USING THE FRAMEWORK OF DISTRIBUTED COGNITION IN THE EVALUATION OF A COLLABORATIVE TOOL

This paper reports on the preliminary findings of an on-going research on the usability of an interactive tabletop, DiamondTouch in a computer-supported collaborative design environment. It summarizes the analysis of the collaborative design activities around the table. Modelled after a household coffee table, DiamondTouch provides users with an informal environment where users can sit on comfortable chairs while interacting with the table concurrently. The framework of distributed cognition was used as an analytic tool which demonstrated how the communicative events around the tabletop were used to bring the design representations into coordination with one another and how information processing activity was performed. Researcher examined the relationship between actors, artifacts, and the settings in which interactions occur. Within a single conceptual framework, the representations flowing through functional systems as objects of analysis could be identified and allowed researcher to reason about design artifacts and cognitive artifacts. These helped in identifying characteristics which could enhance the usability of DiamondTouch, and potential weaknesses of the tabletop.

Computer Supported Collaborative Design Based Hydraulic Structures 3D Designing

As the rapid growth of three-dimensional (3D) designing approaches to hydraulic structures designing in the last few years, computer supported collaborative design (CSCD) methods and systems are becoming more and more important and essential to the field of hydraulic engineering. This paper introduces the basic concepts of 3D design and CSCD, gives the necessity of 3D and CSCD methods in hydraulic structure designing, conducts a survey of the development stages of hydraulic structure designing and finally proposes a potential way to improve the design process and productivities in the hydraulic structure 3D designing.

Study on Web-Based Collaborative Design for the Vehicle Clutch Release Bearings

Clutch release bearings are an important vehicle powertrain components. Web-based collaborative design automotive clutch release bearings, making the regional formation of enterprises dynamic virtual design team, through a combination of scattered in various technological advantage, the talent to play all engineers, technicians can not subject to geographical restrictions, by computer supported collaborative design (CSCD), is a collaborative model of human and computer technology convergence of new technologies. By numerical calculation and the C# language on the separation of the axial load bearing capacity of the design process is developed. It is established on separate static analysis of the proposed bearing model.

Establishment of CSCD in PTC Environment

Computer Supported Collaborative Design(CSCD) is the applicarion of Computer Supported Collaborative Work(CSCW) in the product design field. Based on the analyse of the key technologies and problems of CSCD, a CSCD design frame faced to product design is established. Then a CSCD system faced to radar key components is founded with Pro/INTRALINK software and re-exploiting technology. Some key processes are designed too, such as database management, workflow programming, information communication, file release, conflict identification and safety management. These will provide a reference for constructing a cooperative design environment.

Modular architecture model of CSCD system

A modular architecture model of a computer-supported collaborative design (CSCD) system is proposed on the basis of the hierarchical structure characteristics of a distributed collaborative design system and advanced component object technology. The model mainly regards the module as the core organizing and managing design objects and uses the common object request broker architecture (CORBA) specifications as an interactive platform to achieve object communication. The browser/server computing model deals with the remote heterogeneous collaborative design problem. Product design strategies and mechanisms for collaborative design are separated to facilitate the application of distributed collaborative design environment for quick implementation. The open design framework for CSCD system developers can support the implementation of distributed collaborative design to improve product design speed and reduce product development time. The modular CSCD system (MCSCDS) model and its implementation are achieved in the modular CSCD, a prototype system.

Computer supported collaborative design: Retrospective and perspective

Industry today requires new technologies to address increasingly complex product development and the high expectations of customers. Computer Supported Collaborative Design (CSCD) emerged in response to this requirement. With the rapid advancement of Internet and Web-based technologies, CSCD has been a very active R&D area in the past 15 years and has progressed dramatically. To achieve its full potential, more and more research and commercial CSCD systems have been recently developed. The depth and breadth of these applications and systems are far beyond the traditional definition of concurrent engineering. This paper presents a review of the R&D literature on CSCD, from the pre-CSCD technologies of the 1980s to today's state-of-the-art CSCD. Research challenges and opportunities on CSCD are also discussed and highlighted.

A simultaneous collaborative framework for mould and die design

The fiercely competitive global market is obligating mould and die manufacturers to embrace Computer-Supported Collaborative Design (CSCD) as a way to shorten delivery time and improve product quality. A number of collaborative tools have been developed to keep up with demand. Unfortunately, these existing tools support either collaborative review or collaborative design, but hardly consider the seamless integration of the two types of tools and the characteristics of mould and die. This paper presents a novel framework that combines co-review and co-design in one system so as to cover different aspects of mould and die design. The framework consists of four tiers. In the core, five databases serving different purposes are settled for geographically distributed engineers to inherit various disciplines and propagate their intents. Then, an access-control mechanism is employed to synchronize and secure data during the process of mould and die design in the next tier. For the purpose of interchanging information in real time, an event-driven strategy is applied in the third tier. Afterwards, the outmost tier provides uniform interfaces for invoking application tools and manipulating design information in the collaborative system. Finally, the framework proves effective to support simultaneous collaborative design of mould and die through an example scenario.

Architecture of collaborative design grid and its application based on LAN

To solve the resource sharing problems in collaborative design, computer supported collaborative design (CSCD) technology and grid technology are integrated. The application of grid technology in collaborative design is presented. Concept of collaborative design grid (CDG) is put forward for product design and simulation, and its corresponding architecture is set up based on grid middleware. Task management and resource management in the grid environment are discussed. Grid services are realized based on globus toolkit 3.0. Grid portal of the CDG based on web is developed, and advanced graphical interfaces are provided for potential users. A prototype test bed is established via a case study of a sightseeing lift. It validates the resource sharing and cooperative work through customizing design and parameterized analysis in the CDG. Finally, the performance of the CDG test bed is analyzed and concluded.

Three design experiments for computer-supported collaborative design

The purpose of the present article is to examine how virtual design studio environments can be used to aid collaborative designing and to describe some of our experiences in supporting collaborative design with such environments. The authors will introduce three design projects. These were projects, respectively, for designing clothes for premature babies; conference bags; and tactile books for visually impaired children: they constitute a continuum in terms of being design experiments, each of which highlights certain perspectives on the virtual design process. Our approach, in which the first author was acting as a teacher in each project, made it possible to address current problems faced in the field of virtual designing. The purpose of our design experiments is set up, foster, and investigate an iterative design process, in which previous observations and lessons can be applied to the enhancement of educational settings and practices. The authors examined how participants create shared design ideas, to what extent users can be involved in the design process (participatory designing), and how expert knowledge is utilized. According to our experiments, the progressive inquiry model can fruitfully be applied to collaborative designing to facilitate participants' interaction processes of developing design ideas and sharing their expertise through the virtual design studio.

A complex systems perspective on computer-supported collaborative design technology

What can be done to better support collaborative innovation?

Analysing participation in collaborative design environments

Computer-supported collaborative design can be realised by a broad range of collaborative environments, each facilitating a different kind of collaboration. Understanding the style of collaboration and the potential for each environment is important when choosing a particular technology. We have developed a virtual world approach to teaching design computing in which students learn through traditional lectures, online seminars, and collaborative design projects. The environment integrates both synchronous and asynchronous communication as well as shared documentation. One side effect of using this environment is the incremental development of a record of the communication and collaboration. This record can be the basis for the analysis of participation in collaboration. We show how text analysis as a part of data mining can be used to analyse different aspects of participation. Specifically, we analyse participation in synchronous communication to evaluate individual contribution. We then analyse asynchronous communication to evaluate the extent of collaboration. The methods presented can be an automated part of the collaborative environment providing information for student evaluation in an educational environment or individual contribution in a professional environment.

A domain specific software architecture style for CSCD system

This paper proposes a domain-specific software architecture style. In the architecture style we define three software component types: procedure components, object components and agent components. We design a software bus or connector called Tribus to facilitate interactions among these components and specify one way quotation relations between different component types and two-way quotation relations between components of the same type. We also give an application example of the software architecture style in the domain of Computer Supported Collaborative Design (CSCD).

Shared understanding in computer-supported collaborative design

We propose that computer-support for collaborative design requires a shared understanding of the design artifact among a design team. The development and support for this shared understanding builds on current developments and research in AI, cad, CSCW and computational models of design. The shared understanding should be an explicit representation in order to be effectively shared. The explicit representation should comprise both a visual representation and a semantic model. In this paper we present an architecture for computer-supported collaborative design that distinguishes between a shared visual representation and a shared underlying representation. The development of the underlying representation combines graphical and semantic objects than can be abstracted and aggregated as a tangled hierarchy.

The Role of a Group-Centered Approach in the Development of Computer-Supported Collaborative Design Technologies

Collaborative groups, by their very nature, involve the interactions of many participants which can vary in time, place, culture, knowledge, and ability. The design of collaborative technology for work groups must occur in conjunction with the users while avoiding the dangers of technology-centered product development. This paper focuses on applying a group-centered approach to the development of Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) products. This approach emphasizes the importance of team members” participation in the design process such that the resulting technology is centered around the users” needs and capabilities. By allowing collaborative groups to elaborate on real issues related to their actual work context, and to suggest specific ways to improve their work, a group-centered approach to the design of CSCW systems can be realized. The utilization of the Advanced Knowledge And Design Acquisition Methodology (AKADAM), consisting of concept mapping and design storyboarding techniques, was suggested as a basis for achieving this level of team participation. The concept mapping technique elicited insights into the collaboration process, identified problem areas, and generated suggestions for improving group work. With the aid of the design storyboarding technique, these suggestions for improvement can be directly translated into CSCW tools.