A Taxonomy of workgroup Computing Applications

The goal of workgroup computing is to help individuals and groups efficiently perform a wide range of functions on networked computer systems (Ellis, Gibbs, & Rein, 1991). Early workgroup computing tools were designed for limited functionality and group interaction (Craighill, 1992). Current workgroup computing applications do not allow enough control of group processes and they provide little correlation between various workgroup computing application areas (Rodden and Blair, 1991). An integrated common architecture may produce more effective workgroup computing applications. Integrating common support functions into a common framework will avoid duplication of these functions for each workgroup computing application (Pastor & Jager, 1992). Over 50 research and commercial workgroup computing applications were analyzed to understand and discover their distinctive characteristics and fundamental structure. Using the specified methods, a detailed section of a workgroup computing taxonomy was synthesized for each of 11 workgroup computing functional areas. The detailed taxonomy was the consolidation of all the hierarchical structures. The taxonomy formed the basis for developing an integrated workgroup computing architecture and a set of workgroup computing Application Programming Interface (API) specifications. The results of this study support the hypothesis that the available workgroup computing literature and application documentation would provide sufficient information to develop a comprehensive workgroup computing taxonomy. By comparing workgroup tasks with workgroup computing functional areas, it was possible to derive a common set of workgroup computing management and support tasks that were based on the detailed workgroup computing taxonomy. Common workgroup computing management and support tasks formed the basis for a1! Integrated workgroup computing architecture. Finally, 86 new API specifications were written for common workgroup computing management and support functions. This study can be used by workgroup application developers to determine which common workgroup computing functions should be integrated into future workgroup applications. Implementing the results of this study in future workgroup computing systems will lead to flexible and integrated systems that are easier to use and more transparent to workgroup members. Workgroup computing researchers can use this study to identify workgroup computing functions that should be included in their research areas

The 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association Conference: Global Challenges in a Disrupted World: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Approaches in the Built Environment, Conference Proceedings, 23 - 25 November 2022, Western Sydney University, Kingswood Campus, Sydney, Australia

This is the proceedings of the 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) conference which will be hosted by Western Sydney University in November 2022. The conference is organised by the School of Engineering, Design, and Built Environment in collaboration with the Centre for Smart Modern Construction, Western Sydney University. This year’s conference theme is “Global Challenges in a Disrupted World: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Approaches in the Built Environment”, and expects to publish over a hundred double-blind peer review papers under the proceedings

Measuring knowledge sharing processes through social network analysis within construction organisations

The construction industry is a knowledge intensive and information dependent industry. Organisations risk losing valuable knowledge, when the employees leave them. Therefore, construction organisations need to nurture opportunities to disseminate knowledge through strengthening knowledge-sharing networks. This study aimed at evaluating the formal and informal knowledge sharing methods in social networks within Australian construction organisations and identifying how knowledge sharing could be improved. Data were collected from two estimating teams in two case studies. The collected data through semi-structured interviews were analysed using UCINET, a Social Network Analysis (SNA) tool, and SNA measures. The findings revealed that one case study consisted of influencers, while the other demonstrated an optimal knowledge sharing structure in both formal and informal knowledge sharing methods. Social networks could vary based on the organisation as well as the individuals’ behaviour. Identifying networks with specific issues and taking steps to strengthen networks will enable to achieve optimum knowledge sharing processes. This research offers knowledge sharing good practices for construction organisations to optimise their knowledge sharing processes

Critical Programming: Toward a Philosophy of Computing

Beliefs about the relationship between human beings and computing machines and their destinies have alternated from heroic counterparts to conspirators of automated genocide, from apocalyptic extinction events to evolutionary cyborg convergences. Many fear that people are losing key intellectual and social abilities as tasks are offloaded to the everywhere of the built environment, which is developing a mind of its own. If digital technologies have contributed to forming a dumbest generation and ushering in a robotic moment, we all have a stake in addressing this collective intelligence problem. While digital humanities continue to flourish and introduce new uses for computer technologies, the basic modes of philosophical inquiry remain in the grip of print media, and default philosophies of computing prevail, or experimental ones propagate false hopes. I cast this as-is situation as the post-postmodern network dividual cyborg, recognizing that the rational enlightenment of modernism and regressive subjectivity of postmodernism now operate in an empire of extended mind cybernetics combined with techno-capitalist networks forming societies of control. Recent critical theorists identify a justificatory scheme foregrounding participation in projects, valorizing social network linkages over heroic individualism, and commending flexibility and adaptability through life long learning over stable career paths. It seems to reify one possible, contingent configuration of global capitalism as if it was the reflection of a deterministic evolution of commingled technogenesis and synaptogenesis. To counter this trend I offer a theoretical framework to focus on the phenomenology of software and code, joining social critiques with textuality and media studies, the former proposing that theory be done through practice, and the latter seeking to understand their schematism of perceptibility by taking into account engineering techniques like time axis manipulation. The social construction of technology makes additional theoretical contributions dispelling closed world, deterministic historical narratives and requiring voices be given to the engineers and technologists that best know their subject area. This theoretical slate has been recently deployed to produce rich histories of computing, networking, and software, inform the nascent disciplines of software studies and code studies, as well as guide ethnographers of software development communities. I call my syncretism of these approaches the procedural rhetoric of diachrony in synchrony, recognizing that multiple explanatory layers operating in their individual temporal and physical orders of magnitude simultaneously undergird post-postmodern network phenomena. Its touchstone is that the human-machine situation is best contemplated by doing, which as a methodology for digital humanities research I call critical programming. Philosophers of computing explore working code places by designing, coding, and executing complex software projects as an integral part of their intellectual activity, reflecting on how developing theoretical understanding necessitates iterative development of code as it does other texts, and how resolving coding dilemmas may clarify or modify provisional theories as our minds struggle to intuit the alien temporalities of machine processes

Enhancing information quality through building information modelling implementation within UK structural engineering organisations

Information management has been identified as an essential requirement for the structural engineering sector in a highly competitive AEC marketplace. In the field of structural engineering, information management represents a challenging discipline due to several factors such as a lack of clarity in the adoption of novel technologies, the multitude of different and ambiguous standards available, and the lack of human resources readiness. This research demonstrates that information quality plays a very important role in structural engineering information management as poor quality of structural engineering design information leads to reworks and failures in tendering and construction of projects. 80% to 90% of failures in buildings, bridges and other structures result from errors in design. Novel technologies and workflows have to be adopted by structural engineering organisations, which also need to improve the readiness of their human resources to enhance information management during conceptual, detailed and technical design phases. It is but natural for project teams in structural engineering organisations to expect proper quality of information during the bidding procedure, while providing documents for constructors and also while reporting to clients to make assured accurate decisions. A review of relevant literature revealed that Building Information Modelling has a contributory role in addressing the challenges of information management in various disciplines of the AEC industry. However, to ensure effective contribution of BIM on structural engineering information management, a clear determination is needed to improve information quality. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop a conceptual framework for the adoption of BIM to enhance the quality of information in structural engineering organisations of the UK. In this research, an interpretivism philosophical position has been adopted that understands the real world and solves related problems over interpretations provided by participants. This research triangulated case study and survey approaches to the investigation of the research objectives in order to enrich confidence in presenting findings. A qualitative and quantitative approaches (or mixed-method approach) were used to thoroughly explore factors that have a key role in developing a framework for improving information within the AEC industry. Data collection involved the use of semi-structured interviews followed by scale questionnaires that were given to design experts in the UK. The qualitative data comprised of 12 interviews with experts performing the role of structural engineers, BIM managers and design managers in two structural engineering departments of two different large multidisciplinary organisations in the UK. In the context of quantitative data collection, 125 respondents replied to the researcher within two months. Finally, both qualitative and quantitative data were analysed and conceptual framework was developed and validated. This research points out that at present the UK structural industry is dissatisfied with the quality of structural engineering information and holds the opinion that catastrophic failure in the construction process may result from inadequacies in the information management system. From this research, it is evident that the key dimensions for structural engineering information quality can be explained by information accuracy, information accessibility, and information interoperability and information security. This research examined the key criteria that need to be considered while adopting BIM technological tools, workflows and human resources in the context of structural engineering sector. An initial conceptual framework developed by reviewing the existing literature illustrated the potential power of BIM to contribute to the level of information quality management in structural information management. Primary data collected in this research explored the role of crucial factors of BIM implementation in promoting the key dimensions of information quality management. This research contributes to knowledge by developing a conceptual framework which can be implemented in the ACE industry to improve upon information quality by assisting decision makers associated with structural engineering information management to adopt appropriate technological and workflow protocols, and also to ensure organisational human resource readiness in the contest of BIM. Avenues for further research in this area of information quality management in the structural engineering sector were also recommended by this study