DESC9097 Digital Communicationin Design

Use of CMC and CSCW

for Design Projects

Mary Lou Maher

23 March 2002

Overview

• CMC tools and issues

• Media types for collaborative design

• Network communication terminology

Computer-Mediated Communication

• Asynchronous - send information

• Synchronous - conversation

Type of software Type of information Type ofcommunication

Email text, data files asynchronousList serves text, data files asynchronousBulletin boards text, data files asynchronousTalk, chat Text synchronousBroadcast Video, audio synchronousVideo Conference Video, audio, images,

textsynchronous

Asynchronous Communication• Email

– One to one or one to many

– Personal messages

– informal

• List server– Broadcast to a list

• Bulletin Board– Send message to a central location

• Web Pages

Email

Indicatesattached file

Compose a message

Reply to author

Reply to all

Forward to someone

Redirect to someone

Attach file

Addressbook

Managing Communication in Email

• Subject of email is IMPORTANT• Email address nicknames• Filters and multiple mailboxes• Attachments and file management• Keep old email messages for reference

Email beyond sending text messages

• Broadcast information to mailing lists

• Attaching documents for file transfer

• Discussion threads and documentation

• File management

Listservers

• LISTSERV is an email distribution software, for electronic mailing lists, that contains a list of users subscribed to that list. Each time a message is sent to the list server, it is forwarded to all the members of the list. Members have the capacity to automatically subscribe and unsubscribe, by simply sending a message to the automated administrator. Sometimes, the messages sent to the list are first checked by a moderator and then forwarded to all the other members.

Bulletin Boards

• The major difference between a bulletin board and a list server is that the message sent to a list server is sent directly to each user’s emailbox whereas a message sent to a bulletin board is viewed by the users when they go to a specific place on the internet. Thus, a person does not need to have an email account to be able to participate in the "life" on the bulletin board. The advantage of the bulletin board is that messages do not get mixed up with all the other email messages that a person receives and therefore the messages can be seen as a coherent group representing an asynchronous discussion. At a glance, readers can keep track of discussions and access old messages that

are kept on the bulletin board.

Asynchronous Communication Tools:Advantages, Disadvantages

• Email: direct to person, hard to maintain a discussion• Listservers: broadcast direct to person, hard to control

content• Bulletin boards: threaded discussions, does not go to

person• Web pages: accessible to all, changes do not go to

anyone

Synchronous Communication

• Chat – Talking by typing in a text window

• Video Conference – Talking by speaking with a video window

• Shared or Multi-user window– viewing slides or web pages– drawing board– applications/authoring

• Virtual World – 3D worlds with users as avatars

Chat

• Talking by typing

• Chat, IRC, ICQ, MSN Messenger

• Considerations– Low bandwidth requirements– Multi threaded conversation– Typing skills are important– New registers emerge

Video Conference

• Provides video and audio communication

• “Being there”

• Considerations:– High bandwidth requirements– Protocols– Displacement

Video conference with shared whiteboard

Shared window

• Shared whiteboard– Master-slave, only one person can make changes– Multi-user

• Shared application– Multi-user CAD– Multi-user text editing

Virtual Worlds

• Example– Active Worlds

• Can see the location of other people

• Usually talk by typing

different kinds of communication implies

different kinds of collaboration

Two metaphors for CMC tools:

• Desktop - providing desktop tools for communication, such as email, video conferences, transferring CAD files, web browsers

• Place - providing a place for collaboration, such as virtual worlds, virtual reality, etc.

Desktop Tools

• Web-based tools - use internet protocols for communicating ideas and sharing design files

• “Design Office Automation” packages - use one software vendor for all computing needs, such as Microsoft

Web-based Tools

• Web browsers

• Chat rooms

• Internet phone

• Internet video conference

• File transfer

Advantages:•Heterogeneous platforms supported•Standards for transferring data

Disadvantages:•Management is done manually•Lowest standard is used

Office Automation

• Word Processing

• Document Management

• Email

• Calendars

• Project Management

• Databases

• Web browsing/editing

Advantages:•Common format•Interchange between apps•More advanced features

Disadvantages:•Cannot introduce new features•Everyone must use the same apps•Cannot use specialised design apps

Places for Collaboration

• 3D simulations– Mimic the physical world and its functionality– Navigation occurs by moving around the 3D model

• Object-oriented worlds– Functionality can start with physical analogy– Extend the use and interactivity beyond the physical

3D Simulations

• CAVE

• Active Worlds

• VRML

Advantages:•Looks like the physical world•Navigation is intuitive•Good for viewing models that will be physical buildings

Disadvantages:•Difficult to communicate•Functions are limited to those of physical world•No inherent document management

Object-oriented virtual worlds

• Active Worlds

• VWorlds

• VirTools

• TappedIn

Advantages:•Identity of people and places and things•Reactive objects in the world•Invent new functions

Disadvantages:•Less intuitive•Requires expertise to use all functions•No inherent design support

Collaborative Design

• Communicating– Meetings– Sharing files– Discussing ideas

• Designing– Drawing– Modelling– Analysing the brief

Approaches to CMCD

• Office automation supports document and project management

• Virtual worlds support synchronous communication

• Simulations support collaborative modelling

Media Types and Communication

Digital Design Media

• CAD

• 3D Models

• Movies

• Images

• Text documents

• Databases

Issues:

•Size of files

•Versions

•Multiple authors

•File management

•Naming conventions

Images

Format - gif, jpeg, png, etc

Application - Photoshop, ArchiCAD

Colour - 8 bit, 32 bit, etc

Resolution - 72 dpi, 600 dpi

CAD

Applications -AutoCAD, ArchiCAD

Libraries -shared, distributed

Layer conventions -across organisations

Documentation standards -dimensioning etc

File formats -dxf, dwf, pln

Object/Product models -IAI, STEP

Text Documents

Style guides

Fonts and formats

File types

Edit or browse

Naming conventions

Databases

Information is organisedCan manipulate dataCan be linked to CADDatabase standards

Media Types and Issues

• In order to share information, the project must agree on:– Standard applications– Standard formats– Viewing or browsing

Networks, the Internet, and the WWW

TCP/IP Internet129.78.66.1

193.140.136.2

gubim.bim.gantep.edu.tr

archsci.arch.usyd.edu.au

Terminology

• Internet

• Wide Area Network (WAN)

• Local Area Network (LAN)

• World Wide Web (WWW)

• Web Server

• Mail Server

• Client

Domain Names and Servicesarchsci.arch.usyd.edu.au

embraces the parts of the Internet thatarelocated in Australia

identifies the academic (education) portions

identifies the academic institution (in thiscase the University of Sydney)

identifies a division within the institution (inthis case the Faculty of Architecture)

the name of the particularcomputer

Structure of the Internet

Localnetwork

RegionalnetworkBackboneLocalnetwork

Localnetwork Localnetwork

Localnetwork

LocalnetworkLocalnetwork

Regionalnetwork

RegionalnetworkLocalnetwork

129.78.66.1archsci.arch.usyd.edu.au

193.140.136.2gubim.bim.gantep.edu.tr

John@gubim.bim.gantep.edu.tr

Nick@archsci.arch.usyd.edu.au

World Wide Web

• Publicly available files/services on web servers

• Uses TCP/IP for data transfer

• Uses HTTP and others for data format

• Files are accessed by URL

• Data is browsed using a Web Browser Client

WWW and URLs

http://www.arch.usyd.edu.au/kcdc/vds96/elective/index.html

The domain name ofthe Web server. The name ofthe file to beretrieved anddisplayed.The path on the Webserver file system thatleads to the file, startingfrom the default directoryof the web server.

The protocol whichspecifies the method fordata transfer and theinterpretation of thedata on the client side.

WWW Protocols and Applications

File types and applications

Markup Languages

index.html

www.arch.usyd.edu.au

body.txt

land.jpgtable.gif

map.jpglabel.gif

Internet and Standards

• Data transfer on networks

• Markup languages

• File formats and types

• Protocols and applications

• Special media types and client helpers

Future Issues for Network Communications

• Very high speed networks

• Broadband communications

• Better compression

• Different types of network transmission, eg air doc and bus

• New protocols for the WWW