Designing together apart : computer supported collaborative design in architecture

The design of computer tools to assist in work has often attempted to replicate manual methods. This replication has been proven to fail in a diversity of fields such as business management, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer- Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW). To avoid such a failure being repeated in the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Design (CSCD), this thesis explores the postulation that CSCD does not have to be supported by tools which replicate the face-to-face design context to support distal architectural design. The thesis closely examines the prevailing position that collaborative design is a social and situated act which must therefore be supported by high bandwidth tools. This formulation of architectural collaboration is rejected in favour of the formulation of a collaborative expert act. This proposal is tested experimentally, the results of which are presented. Supporting expert behaviour requires different tools than the support of situated acts. Surveying research in computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW), the thesis identifies tools that support expert work. The results of the research is transferred to two contexts: teaching and practice. The applications in these two contexts illustrate how CSCD can be applied in a variety of bandwidth and technological conditions. The conclusion is that supporting collaborative design as an expert and knowledge-based act can be beneficially implemented in the teaching and practice of architecture

ICT-driven interactions: on the dynamics of mediated control

Interactions driven by Information Communications Technologies (ICT) have gained significant acceptance and momentum in contemporary organisational settings, this is illustrated by their massive adoption and varied deployment across the various levels of an organisation’s hierarchy. ICTs such as mobile telephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), videoconferencing, BlackBerries and other forms of portable and immovable computing technologies provide enduring bases for mediated interactions in human activities. This thesis looks into the dynamics of ICT-driven interactions and, distinctively, focuses on the manifestations and implications of mediated control in a collaborative environment. The study draws on the concept of administrative behaviour which leads to the observation that the nature of mediated control is not static, but evolutionarily dynamic that springs from highly unpredictable contexts of work. Thus, interactions driven by ICTs influence and change the dynamics of mediated control against the background of the rhythm, structure and direction of an organisation’s purposeful undertakings. Findings indicate, quite paradoxically, that networks set up through the instrumentality of technology mediated interaction discourage domination and inspire individual discretion in spite of their promise of electronic chains. The analysis reflects the notion that mediated control is not only about the predetermination of targets that are attained at the subordinate level. Indeed, the study advocates a fundamental conceptualisation of mediated control as double-sided concept, integrating the use of discretion that, occasionally, makes subordinates drive and initiate key control techniques that steer organisational life. Therefore, through the application of philosophical hermeneutics for a rigorous data interpretation, this study develops an innovative and holistic understanding of mediated control which not only adds to, but also extends, the current organisational perception of control by the incorporation of discretion and, in the process, makes a distinctive contribution to scholarship

Workspace methodologies : studying communication, collaboration and workscapes

This report consists of descriptions of methods, which are used for studying, evaluating and developing workplaces. Work environments are analyzed as layers or imbedded levels: as physical, virtual and mental/social spaces. In this analysis, Kurt Lewin's classical psychological concept 'Life Space' is used as well as the concept 'ba' provided by Nonaka, Toyama and Konno. 'Ba' refers to socially shared space, where people create, share and use knowledge. The concept of Ba unifies the physical space, such as an office space, the virtual space, such as e-mail, and the mental or social space, such as common experiences, ideas, values, and ideals shared by people with common goals as a working context. A hypothesis is that the support and/or hindrances of these spaces have a crucial influence on the activities of employees, groups and organizations. To design and develop workplaces it is fundamental to identify these facilitating and hindering work context characteristics. For this purpose, various methods are needed to collect data, to analyze it, to describe and model the environments, and to analyze their quality. In this report, some only methods are described. They are: social network analysis, sketching and photographing methods, communication analysis, work requirement and well-being analysis, simulation game method and multidisciplinary workplace study methodology. The described methods are examples of approaches and methods meant to cling to the challenges of workplace design.Tämä raportti koostuu työtilojen tutkimisessa, arvioinnissa ja kehittämisessä käytettyjen tiedonkeruu- ja analysointimenetelmien kuvauksista. Työn toimintaympäristöä eritellään eri tasoina tai kerrostumina: fyysisinä, virtuaalisina ja henkisinä/sosiaalisina tiloina. Tasoerittelyssä hyödynnetään Kurt Lewinin klassista, yksilöpsykologista 'elämäntila' käsitettä sekä Nonakan, Toyaman ja Konnon käsitettä 'ba'. Ba tarkoittaa sosiaalisesti jaettua tilaa, jossa olevat ihmiset luovat, jakavat ja käyttävät tietoa. 'Ba' yhdistää fyysisen tilan, kuten toimisto, virtuaalisen tilan, kuten sähköposti, ja henkisen tai sosiaalisen tilan, kuten yhteisesti jaetut kokemukset, ideat ja ihanteet. Oletuksena on, että näiden tilojen tarjoama tuki ja esteet vaikuttavat keskeisellä tavalla yksittäisten työntekijöiden, ryhmien ja organisaatioiden toimintaan. Työpaikkojen suunnittelun ja kehittämisen kannalta on olennaista tunnistaa toimintaa helpottavia ja estäviä tekijöitä. Tähän tarvitaan erilaisia menetelmiä kerätä työtiloja koskevaa tietoa, analysoida sitä, kuvata näitä ympäristöjä ja arvioida niiden laatua. Raportin kirjoituksissa kuvataan joitakin menetelmiä. Kuvatut menetelmät ovat: sosiaalisten verkostojen analyysimenetelmät, piirros- ja valokuvamenetelmä, kommunikaatioanalyysi, kuormitustekijä- ja hyvinvointianalyysi, simulaatiopelimenetelmä ja monitieteinen työpaikkojen tutkimusmetodologia. Esitellyt menetelmät ovat esimerkkejä tavoista paneutua työpaikkojen tutkimuksen haasteisiin

Beyond Orality and Literacy: Letters and Organizational Communication

We draw on communication theories to study organizational communication from a literacy perspective. We suggest that the current debate over the capability of new media to foster the sharing and development of ideas and allow the expression of emotions, which presupposes face-to-face communication as the ideal form of communication, disappears once we switch the focus from the medium to the modality – written versus oral communication. An analysis of personal and organizational letters illustrates the role played by written communication throughout human history, in exchanging ideas and supporting emotionalOrality and Literacy; Online Interactions; Communicative Practices; Letters; Organizational Communication

Augmenting the field experience: a student-led comparison of techniques and technologies

In this study we report on our experiences of creating and running a student fieldtrip exercise which allowed students to compare a range of approaches to the design of technologies for augmenting landscape scenes. The main study site is around Keswick in the English Lake District, Cumbria, UK, an attractive upland environment popular with tourists and walkers. The aim of the exercise for the students was to assess the effectiveness of various forms of geographic information in augmenting real landscape scenes, as mediated through a range of techniques and technologies. These techniques were: computer-generated acetate overlays showing annotated wireframe views from certain key points; a custom-designed application running on a PDA; a mediascape running on the mScape software on a GPS-enabled mobile phone; Google Earth on a tablet PC; and a head-mounted in-field Virtual Reality system. Each group of students had all five techniques available to them, and were tasked with comparing them in the context of creating a visitor guide to the area centred on the field centre. Here we summarise their findings and reflect upon some of the broader research questions emerging from the project

Virtual Teams: The Impact of Varying Levels of Virtuality on Project Team Performance

Although virtual teams have existed for over two decades, in recent years the Covid-19 pandemic led to a wider adoption and transition to virtual teamwork by most organizations. Virtuality is operationalized as the proportion of work done remotely or virtually on a project. This research studies the moderating effects of virtuality in project teams on communication frequency, leadership effectiveness, and project team performance. Using the theoretical frameworks of Adaptive Structuration Theory and Transformational Leadership Theory, a survey was carried out that informed this cross-sectional study. Respondents were project team members and managers who were involved in AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) and Finance/IT projects before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study showed that the inverted-u relationship between communication frequency and project performance was preserved in only low virtuality teams, while the shape of the curve was different for high virtuality teams. AEC project performance was also found to be more sensitive to communication frequency, as these projects exhibited inverted-u relationship with performance compared to Finance/IT projects which was more linear. Regardless of the levels of virtuality in project teams, transformational leadership leads to significantly better performance in both types of projects. This study contributes to the body of literature in project management and information systems by measuring one of several dimensions of virtuality in the proposed model and provides insights for project managers in industry to better lead their virtual project teams

Introduction to location-based mobile learning

[About the book] The report follows on from a 2-day workshop funded by the STELLAR Network of Excellence as part of their 2009 Alpine Rendez-Vous workshop series and is edited by Elizabeth Brown with a foreword from Mike Sharples. Contributors have provided examples of innovative and exciting research projects and practical applications for mobile learning in a location-sensitive setting, including the sharing of good practice and the key findings that have resulted from this work. There is also a debate about whether location-based and contextual learning results in shallower learning strategies and a section detailing the future challenges for location-based learning