Title: Using annotations in engineering design: some results from an experimental study
1Using annotations in engineering designsome
resultsfrom an experimental study
- Sylvie Guibert, Françoise Darses
- Laboratoire dErgonomie - CNAM
- Jean-François Boujut
- GILCO - INPG
2Contents
- The use of annotation in product design
- Annotation and CAD models
- 2 Annotation scenarios for PD
- An ergonomic and psychological study of a design
situation - Definition of annotation in this case
- Methodological point
- results
3Product design
- Complex process which spans from idea generation
to the industrial definition of the product - Lots of different activities (modelling,
simulating, but also collective evaluation,
argumentation (design meetings), etc.) - Includes various stakeholders (e.g. Marketing,
after sales, purchasing, engineering, etc.) gt
different domains of expertise (common
understanding , shared representation, etc.) - Mainly geometric models and drawing/sketching is
widely used in design
4Information management process
Product Data Management (PDM)
Formal process
Informal Process
Design tasks
5At the informal level
- Need to support non geometric information in
relation to the geometric definition of the
product - Need to have negotiation spaces (remote)
- Formal vs. informal
- Support to argumentation
- Support to rational capture
6Représentation for supporting annotation
- Modelling oriented interface
- Geometric models only
- Complex information structure (interaction with
the geometry) - Format not easily accessible
- Difficult to share
7Annotation in design
Digital documents Digital mock-up Version i
8Annotation tool basic requirements
- Basic geometric representation easy to handle
(VRML, etc.) - Additional symbols easy to add and manage
(drag/drop) - Non geometric information available (information
structure) - Collaboration oriented
9Annotation scenariosasynchronous collaboration
Object Vi
Extraction i
Object Vi1
time
Project review i
10Annotation scenariosynchronous collaboration
Object V i1
Object Vi
t
Meeting 1
Meeting 2
11An ergonomic and psychological study to
support the new practices
Mediated
Natural
Semantic Web
CSCWriting
Individual
Collective
Engineering Design
Evolution of annotation practices
12An experimental collaborative design situation
Design task to produce the manufacturing and
marketable solution of a bicycle trailer to carry
children Course of the experiment 4 meetings of
2 hours
Teamboard
Chassis designer
Project leader
Connecting designer
Ergonomist
13Analysing the data
- Recording and analysis the various documents of
work - The location of the document used
- The medium of the document
- The documents scope of use
14Clarifying definitionsdocument, sketch,
annotation
- A document (Chabin, 1997 Stern, 1997)
- A content
- A container
- A context
- A sketch
- A graphical production
- A particular form of a document
- An annotation
- Isnt a document
- Has not an autonomous existence
A sketch
An annotation
15Analysing the data
- Recording and analysis the various documents of
work - The location of the document used
- The medium of the document
- The documents scope of use
- A cognitive task analysis with COMET (method of
protocol analysis) (Darses, Détienne, Falzon
Visser, 2001) - Coding into Predicate/Argument units
- Predicates Actions (to generate, to inform, to
evaluate, etc.) - Arguments Objects (solution, problem, domain
objects, etc.)
16Results a majority of digital mediums
- Electronic documents 2/3 annotations
- Paper documents 1/3 annotations
- Computer tools are suited to natural
production Teamboard versus CAD tool - Digital representations gave rise to
proportionally more annotations than sketches
documents - Different natures of the solutions in either case
17(No Transcript)
18Resultsbeyond simple deictics
- Only 5 (9) of the annotations were textual
- 53 (91) were graphical
19Resultsbeyond simple deictics
The semantic content
- Only 5 (9) of the annotations were textual
- 53 (91) were graphical
20Resultsbeyond simple deictics
A subproblem in a broader context
- Only 5 (9) of the annotations were textual
- 53 (91) were graphical
21Resultsfunction in problem solving
- Created in the work space shared and produced by
the group - Aiming to establish a shared context for the
problem and the production of solutions
22Resultsfunction in problem solving
- Created in the work space shared and produced by
the group - Aiming to establish a shared context for the
problem and the production of solutions
23Resultsfunction in problem solving
- Created in the work space shared and produced by
the group - Aiming to establish a shared context for the
problem and the production of solutions
24Resultsfunction in problem solving
- Created in the work space shared and produced by
the group - Aiming to establish a shared context for the
problem and the production of solutions
25Resultsfunction in problem solving
Describing constraints of the problem and the
solution
- Created in the work space shared and produced by
the group - Aiming to establish a shared context for the
problem and the production of solutions
26Conclusions
- The minor role of the textual annotations
- And the wide variety of the graphical annotations
- Beyond simple deictics
- They improve the designers understanding
- Examining the possible effect of
- The function of the designers
- The instant of the design process
27Ongoing work