AUTOMATE: A Research Paradigm to Study Collaboration in Multidisciplinary DesignTeams

摘要

The purpose of this report was to describe the development of a research paradigmto study multidisciplinary design teams. An historical overview of multidisciplinary design teams identified two issues critical for effective collaboration: information sharing and avoiance of misanalogies. The process of developing a research paradigm to focus on these issues involved finding a design problem and eliciting knowledge from design experts. The problem selected was the design of an automobile navigation system (AutoMate). To identify key tradeoffs to build the task around, knowledge was elicited from 13 design experts. The design experts were interviewed and their knowledge concept mapped. Based on the design experts' knowledge, the AutoMate task was developed. The task and its potential uses are discussed.