Context Knowledge: Supporting Designers' Information Search in the Early Design Phases

Large amounts of data, information and knowledge are used during a design process. And it is proven from past researches that the absence of context is one of the reasons of the difficulties of utilizing data, information and knowledge in a design. This research work explored the concept of context that has been used in various domains and applications, and searched for the role of context in a design process. The concept of context understood and developed in this study then, was implemented in a system called Contextual Design Information Retrieval System (CDIRS), that aimed at supporting designers' information search in the early design phases. This system was successfully evaluated by potential end users and by experts.Industrial Design Engineerin