Using annotations in engineering design: some results from an experimental study

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Using annotations in engineering designsome
resultsfrom an experimental study

• Sylvie Guibert, Françoise Darses
• Laboratoire dErgonomie - CNAM
• Jean-François Boujut
• GILCO - INPG

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Contents

• 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

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Product 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

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Information management process
Product Data Management (PDM)
Formal process
Informal Process
Design tasks
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At 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

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Représentation for supporting annotation

• Modelling oriented interface
• Geometric models only
• Complex information structure (interaction with
  the geometry)
• Format not easily accessible
• Difficult to share

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Annotation in design
Digital documents Digital mock-up Version i
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Annotation 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

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Annotation scenariosasynchronous collaboration
Object Vi
Extraction i
Object Vi1
time
Project review i
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Annotation scenariosynchronous collaboration
Object V i1
Object Vi
t
Meeting 1
Meeting 2
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An ergonomic and psychological study to
support the new practices
Mediated
Natural
Semantic Web
CSCWriting
Individual
Collective
Engineering Design
Evolution of annotation practices

• Complexity ?

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An 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
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Analysing 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

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Clarifying 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
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Analysing 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.)

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Results 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

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Resultsbeyond simple deictics

• Only 5 (9) of the annotations were textual
• 53 (91) were graphical

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Resultsbeyond simple deictics
The semantic content

• Only 5 (9) of the annotations were textual
• 53 (91) were graphical

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Resultsbeyond simple deictics
A subproblem in a broader context

• Only 5 (9) of the annotations were textual
• 53 (91) were graphical

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Resultsfunction 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

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Resultsfunction 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

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Resultsfunction 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

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Resultsfunction 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

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Resultsfunction 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

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Conclusions

• 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

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Ongoing work