Social Sciences and Information Systems Building: A Collaboration
In order to create our methods for managing knowledge in engineering design, the n-dim group analyzes work processes as an integral part of system's development. Over the last 10 years the n-dim project has researched and developed methods for studying information flow and use in design organizations and methods for evolutionary prototyping in the development of design support applications.
What we have found in the course of our work process analyses is that design consists of an extensive set of negotiations among design participants; therefore, design is inherently a collaborative and hence a social process. In our efforts to support design work, we also strive to support these collaborative, social aspects of the design process. Addressing the problems of supporting design work, we draw heavily from social sciences, computer science, engineering science, technology management and software engineering.
Information Assets [PDF, 71kb]
Information and Communication Management for Complex Engineered Systems [PDF, 54kb]
Supporting Engineering Design [PDF, 182kb]
Designing the Process Design Process [PDF, 120kb]
Supporting Event-Driven Activities in a Distributed Design Environment [HTML]