Reducing the "Information Gap" Between Synchronous and Asynchronous Co-operative Design Phases

This paper aims to describe a particular role of annotations as co-operative artefacts in engineering design. In co-operative processes, where achieving a shared understanding between the participants from different domains is crucial, sharing the decisions and argumentations which lead to a solution is as important as sharing the solution itself. In our case study, we describe what we call an "information gap" between the asynchronous phase, when individual decisions are made, and the design review, when the solution is evaluated, and collective thinking influences the decisions. Then, within a conceptual design scenario, we show how semantic annotations can create a shared environment to help to reduce this gap, where all actors are able to elicit domain-specific constraints and engage discussions on design solution during the asynchronous phase.semantic annotation; engineering design; design communication; collaborative tool

An annotation based approach to support design communication

The aim of this paper is to propose an approach based on the concept of annotation for supporting design communication. In this paper, we describe a co-operative design case study where we analyse some annotation practices, mainly focused on design minutes recorded during project reviews. We point out specific requirements concerning annotation needs. Based on these requirements, we propose an annotation model, inspired from the Speech Act Theory (SAT) to support communication in a 3D digital environment. We define two types of annotations in the engineering design context, locutionary and illocutionary annotations. The annotations we describe in this paper are materialised by a set of digital artefacts, which have a semantic dimension allowing express/record elements of technical justifications, traces of contradictory debates, etc. In this paper, we first clarify the semantic annotation concept, and we define general properties of annotations in the engineering design context, and the role of annotations in different design project situations. After the description of the case study, where we observe and analyse annotations usage during the design reviews and minute making, the last section is dedicated to present our approach. We then describe the SAT concept, and define the concept of annotation acts. We conclude with a description of basic annotation functionalities that are actually implemented in a software, based on our approach

Analysis of the co-design activity: influence of a mixed artifact and contribution of the gestural function in a spatial augmented reality environment

International audienceAugmented reality provides new possibilities to propose environments where the designers can take advantage of the physicality of the artifacts while keeping the versatility of digital environments. Mixed objects can therefore provide new media in the interactions between stakeholders. Besides, the increasing interest in user participation in early design phases is limited by the poor representations or the expensive mock ups to be provided in design meetings. Therefore, understanding the role of these mixed artifacts by analyzing and characterizing the interactions is crucial to the development of both design methods and environments. By focusing on multimodal interactions, we aim at providing new results in terms of the design process, in particular by studying the contribution of the gesture in collaborative product co-creativity sessions but also by understanding the role of these multiple interactions in an augmented reality environment

A participatory design approach based on the use of scenarios for improving local design methods in developing countries

Working paperOver the past few years, the use of scenarios in participatory design has proved its worth. It has resulted in some interesting tools for capturing the context of use. However, these approaches have been almost exclusively developed and used for software design. In this article, we shall describe the development of scenarios in the specific context of tropical food processing equipment design in developing countries. As well as exploring this original field of application, this article raises fundamental questions about scenario use, taking us beyond the limited framework of the proposed application. We shall outline a methodological framework for structuring the deployment of scenarios according to the different design phases: the COSU method. This method implements the scenario concept in an original way. It comprises four types of scenario whose aim is to create interaction between designers and users in order to foster a shared understanding of both the problem and the solutions. We shall also show that the scenarios are objects that mediate the user-designer dialogue that is of prior importance in the context of developing countries. The applicability of the method is presented through various case study examples

Analyse d’un dispositif de type fab-lab dans un contexte industriel

National audience— L'émergence des Fab Labs facilite l'accès à la fabrication numérique et au prototypage depuis quelques années. Cette émergence s'accompagne du mouvement des makers au travers du Do It Yourself. Parallèlement les grandes entreprises s'intéressent de plus en plus à ces nouveaux lieux pour la simplicité de mise en oeuvre de leurs outils et pour leur ouverture quant au partage de connaissance et au compagnonnage. Cependant ce phénomène n'a pas encore pénétré concrètement les entreprises de manière significative. Nous pensons que l'utilisation de ce type de lieu dans les phases de conception amont pourrait aider les phases de créativité en favorisant l'exploration des espaces de possibles, en générant plus de concepts ou en les rendant plus robustes et en permettant la confrontation des divers points de vues plus rapidement. Le maquettage ne serait donc plus réservé aux services de prototypage ou à l'ingénierie ; il serait rendu accessible aux différents acteurs tels que le design, le marketing et l'ergonomie. En associant ce type de lieu à une démarche inspirée du design thinking, le Groupe SEB créé un nouveau dispositif pour accompagner ses équipes d'innovation. Ces équipes multi-expertises vont pouvoir travailler en collaboration afin de générer des idées via des outils de créativité. Ces idées vont être décrites pour se transformer en concepts qui seront ensuite matérialisées pour devenir des démonstrateurs. I. INTRODUCTION Depuis l'apparition des ordinateurs, les technologies numériques n'ont cessé de progresser. L'accès à ces technologies dans le domaine de la fabrication grand public est rendu possible avec l'apparition des ateliers de fabrication numérique et plus particulièrement des Fab Labs. L'apparition des Fab Labs va donner un regain à la culture Do it Yourself au travers du mouvement des Makers. Les grandes entreprises s'intéressent de plus en plus à ces ateliers de fabrication numérique et à la culture qui les accompagne. Pour l'entreprise, les Fab Labs sont assimilés à un outil d'innovation ouverte facilitant l'accès aux dispositifs de prototypage rapide. Dans l'ouvrage de Fabien Eychenne consacré à l'étude de l'émergence des Fab Labs en France [1], une typologie permet de distinguer trois types de Fab Labs : grand public, éducationnels et privés business. Les Fab Labs de type privés business sont étudiés dans cet article

What is the “Source” of Open Source Hardware?

What “open source” means once applied to tangible products has been so far mostly addressed through the light of licensing. While this approach is suitable for software, it appears to be over-simplistic for complex hardware products. Whether such a product can be labelled as open source is not only a question of licence but a question of documentation, i.e. what is the information that sufficiently describes it? Or in other words, what is the “source” of open source hardware? To date there is no simple answer to this question, leaving large room for interpretation in the usage of the term. Based on analysis of public documentation of 132 products, this paper provides an overview of how practitioners tend to interpret the concept of open source hardware. It specifically focuses on the recent evolution of the open source movement outside the domain of electronics and DIY to that of non-electronic and complex open source hardware products. The empirical results strongly indicate the existence of two main usages of open source principles in the context of tangible products: publication of product-related documentation as a means to support community-based product development and to disseminate privately developed innovations. It also underlines the high variety of interpretations and even misuses of the concept of open source hardware. This reveals in turn that this concept may not even be clear to practitioners and calls for more narrowed down definitions of what has to be shared for a product to be called open source. This article contributes towards this effort through the definition of an open source hardware lifecycle summarizing the observed approaches to open source hardware.DFG, 325093850, Open Access Publizieren 2017 - 2018 / Technische Universität Berli

Manager l'interface. Approche par la complexité du processus collaboratif de conception, d'intégration et de réalisation (modèle transactionnel de l'acteur d'interface et dynamique des espaces d'échanges)

Dans de grands projets tels qu accélérateurs ou détecteurs de particules, les interfaces et les frontières se révèlent à la fois critiques et sous-estimées. Le manageur technique, acteur parmi les autres, se trouve placé à des nœuds de réseau où il doit mettre en œuvre des espaces d'échanges afin de susciter des conduites collaboratives. À partir d études de cas issus du terrain du CERN, la thèse adopte trois principes issus de la littérature de la complexité, les principes dialogique,hologrammique et d auto-éco-organisation. Elle propose une construction méthodologique matricielleoriginale menant à l'élaboration d'un modèle transactionnel de l acteur d interface.L espace d échanges collaboratif devient le lieu où se déploie la dynamique de transformation del acteur d interface en acteur-frontière. Les objets intermédiaires élaborés lors du processus deconception / intégration y sont simultanément transformés en objets frontières, qui sont mobiliséspour la réalisation du produit dans le cadre récursivement déterminé du projet. L intérêt d uneapproche globale et couplée de cette dynamique des espaces d'échanges conduit à proposer un hypercompas afin d'orienter l agir penser du manageur technique.An approach through the complexity of the collaborative process of design, integration and realization:a transactional model of the interface actor and dynamics of exchange spacesAbstractIn large projects such as particle accelerators or detectors, interfaces and boundaries revealthemselves to be both critical and underestimated. The technical manager, an actor among others,finds himself placed at network nodes where he must set up exchanges spaces in order to generatecollaborative behaviours. Starting with case studies from the field of CERN, the thesis follows threeprinciples based on the dialogical, the hologramic and the self-eco-organization principles, asexpanded in the writings on complexity. It puts forward an original methodological matrix constructionleading to a transactional model of the interface actor.The collaborative exchanges spaces builds itself as a place for the dynamic transformation of theinterface actor into a boundary actor. Intermediate objects, created during the design / integrationprocess, are simultaneously transformed into boundary objects. They are instrumental in therealization of the product: this takes place in the framework of the project which has been determinedthrough a recursive process. The interest generated by such a global and combined approach of thisdynamic process leads to the proposal of a hypercompass , with the aim of providing the means forthe technical manager to orient his acting thinking .SAVOIE-SCD - Bib.électronique (730659901) / SudocGRENOBLE1/INP-Bib.électronique (384210012) / SudocGRENOBLE2/3-Bib.électronique (384219901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Characterization of Collaborative Design and Interaction Management Activities in a Distant Engineering Design Situation

International audienceThis paper presents an empirical research to study synchronous and asynchronous collaborative design in a technology-mediated situation. In this experiment we wanted to create a design situation where four distant designers had to communicate using commercial software and standard hardware configurations. Our methodological approach gave us the opportunity to examine two main lines of research questions concerning: (1) the specificities of technology-mediated design meetings that contrast to those of face-to-face design meetings; (2) the differences between synchronous and asynchronous collaborative work in mediated design engineering situations. Our approach stresses on some important aspects related to the management of the synchronous activity in a distant mediated situation. The originality of the approach relies on the hybrid characterization of both solution and problem management on one hand, and activity management (e.g. speech turns, meeting agenda) on the other hand

Exploring Tablet Interfaces for Product Appearance Authoring in Spatial Augmented Reality

Users acceptance of innovative product appearance authoring tools based on Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) is still limited due to their perception of a high technology complexity and a low performance/functionality of the current interaction systems. The integration of SAR technologies in professional design activities is still marginal, though many studies in this field have already proved their potential as supporting tools. To overcome this barrier, efficient means for interacting with the digital images projected onto the surfaces of real objects are essential. The aim of the current study is to respond to this demand by proposing and validating three UI configurations displayed by an unique and portable device embedded with a touch screen. These interface layouts, designed to cooperate with the output of the SAR system and to not affect the well-known benefits of its augmented environment, provide different types of visual feedback to the user by duplicating, extending or hiding the information already displayed by the projected mock-up. The experimental study reported here, performed with a panel of 41 subjects, revealed that accuracy, efficiency and perceived usability of the proposed solutions are comparable with each other and in comparison to standard desktop setups commonly used for design activities. According to these findings, the research simultaneously demonstrates (i) the high performances achieved by the touch device when coupled with a SAR system during the execution of authoring tasks, (ii) the capability of the projected mock-up to behave as an actual three-dimensional display for the real time rendering of the product appearance and (iii) the possibility to freely select - according to the users preference, the design task or the type of product - one of the three UI configurations without affecting the quality of the result.</p