Supporting Annotation-Based Argumentation Linking Discursive and Graphical Aspects of Design for Asynchronous Communication
Résumé
In this paper we will focus on distant collaborative design activities. Graphic representations have always played an important role in design. If one look back in the history of engineering, graphic representations has always been strongly present. Drawings, sketches, mock-ups, and more recently digital representations (CAD, virtual reality, etc.) are commonly shared in design teams. For many years researchers have been studying the role of mediating objects in design teams, facilitating common understanding and knowledge elicitation and sharing. More recently some works have focused on the argumentative side of design. Indeed, the discursive aspect of design is almost as important as the graphic one. In relation to these observations we discuss the concept of intermediary object, boundary object and transactive memory as a good theoretical framework. Today new technologies enable to rethink the mediating structures in distant collaborative work. Particularly we have studied the role of annotations for linking discursive and graphical aspects of design. This led us to develop an annotation plate-form we will present and propose to the discussion.