| CONTENT ANALYSIS OF WEB-BASED COLLABORATIVE DESIGN Empirical Evidence of design process (2008) | |||||||||||||||
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| specific web sites that provide dedicated web hosted “collaboration and informa-tion spaces ” for the AEC industry to support design, engineering and construction teams. These systems have an underlying software structure that is shared for many independent building projects. A typical system provides controlled access to the project data from any physical location through the Internet. WBCS can have various features, such as email, message board, document repository, calendar functions, to-do-lists, and project administrative features. The software itself is not new; it has already been applied in architecture and even more in engineering. Current studies indicate that there are over 260 WBCS available on the market (Orr 2004). However, many architects are hesitant to use the new technology and are not convinced of its potential. The concern firms share is that a WBCS may waste time or fail to enable a successful project (Laiserin 2002). The question is: do WBCS tools contribute effectively to building projects? Current research has investigated several limited aspects of Web-based communication. Previous studies have generally dealt with data from an experimental setting or are single case studies. The objective of this study is to measure the use of WBCS within AEC. This study employs a new approach in AEC research by using data produced as a byproduct of the commercial use of design support software. 105 | |||||||||||||||
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