Knowledge-based System to Support Architectural Design. Intelligent objects, project net-constraints, collaborative work

The architectural design business is marked by a progressive increase in operators all cooperating towards the realization of building structures and complex infrastructures (Jenckes, 1997). This type of design implies the simulta-neous activity of specialists in different fields, often working a considerable dis-tance apart, on increasingly distributed design studies. Collaborative Architectural Design comprises a vast field of studies that em-braces also these sectors and problems. To mention but a few: communication among operators in the building and design sector; design process system logic architecture; conceptual structure of the building organism; building component representation; conflict identification and management; sharing of knowledge; and also, user interface; global evaluation of solutions adopted; IT definition of objects; inter-object communication (in the IT sense). The point of view of the research is that of the designers of the architectural arte-fact (Simon, 1996); its focus consists of the relations among the various design operators and among the latter and the information exchanged: the Building Objects. Its primary research goal is thus the conceptual structure of the building organ-ism for the purpose of managing conflicts and developing possible methods of resolving them

Digital Technologies and Patterns of Distributed Innovation

In this conceptual essay we develop a framework for comparing different forms of organizational structures for distributed, innovative work. To develop this framework we identify two dimensions. The first distinguishes between organizational arrangements that are structured either in relation to a “container” organization, or those arrangements that are structured by the digital platforms upon which their ecosystems are based. The second dimension considers the degree to which the boundary spanning activity is more or less opaque, in terms of the degree to which collaborators interact in either an arm’s length or a tightly coupled fashion. In developing and reflecting on this framework, we characterize four ideal types of organizational structures for distributed innovation: agent relationships; work teams; managed crowds; or open projects. We further utilize the framework to theorize about processes that might lead to transitions between structures

Distributed selves: Personal identity and extended memory systems

This paper explores the implications of extended and distributed cognition theory for our notions of personal identity. On an extended and distributed approach to cognition, external information is under certain conditions constitutive of memory. On a narrative approach to personal identity, autobiographical memory is constitutive of our diachronic self. In this paper, I bring these two approaches together and argue that external information can be constitutive of one’s autobiographical memory and thus also of one’s diachronic self. To develop this claim, I draw on recent empirical work in human-computer interaction, looking at lifelogging technologies in both healthcare and everyday contexts. I argue that personal identity can neither be reduced to psychological structures instantiated by the brain nor by biological structures instantiated by the organism, but should be seen as an environmentally-distributed and relational construct. In other words, the complex web of cognitive relations we develop and maintain with other people and technological artifacts partly determines our self. This view has conceptual, methodological, and normative implications: we should broaden our concepts of the self as to include social and artifactual structures, focus on external memory systems in the (empirical) study of personal identity, and not interfere with people’s distributed minds and selves

Pattern-Based Model Comparison

Distributed conceptual modeling may lead to a set of problems whenever these models shall be compared or integrated. E.g., the same issue is modeled in different ways or different issues are modeled in the same way concerning naming and structure. The resolution and avoidance of different naming is subject of diverse approaches. However, managing differing structures is still an unsolved problem. Therefore, we propose an approach that makes use of structural model pattern matching in order to reveal structurally equivalent sections in conceptual models. Thus, professionals that have to compare models in order to decide on how to integrate them are provided with an enhanced decision support. The approach is generic in order to make it applicable for any conceptual modeling language

Mitigating response distortion in IS ethics research

Distributed construction of conceptual models may lead to a set of problems when these models are to be compared or integrated. Different kinds of comparison conflicts are known (e.g. naming conflicts or structural conflicts), the resolution of which is subject of different approaches. However, the expost resolution of naming conflicts raises subsequent problems that origin from semantic diversities of namings – even if they are syntactically the same. Therefore, we propose an approach that allows for avoiding naming conflicts in conceptual models already during modelling. This way, the ex-post resolution of naming conflicts becomes obsolete. In order to realise this approach we combine domain thesauri as lexical conventions for the use of terms, and linguistic grammars as conventions for valid phrase structures. The approach is generic in order to make it reusable for any conceptual modelling language