Contents Toward a research culture Theory-centered approach User-centered approach Education-centered approach Innovation-centered approach Context-centered approach

Paul A. Rodgers Napier University The impact of internet-based technologies on modern design practice The confluence of communication and computing technologies, observed in the development and usage of the Internet, has enabled many design companies to collaborate in product design and development projects that would have been very difficult previously. Effective use of the Internet, particularly the WWW, has been achieved through using it not solely as a means for communicating but as a medium for the transfer of information and as a mechanism for social interactions between individuals. Internet technologies such as discussion groups, electronic mailing lists and personal web pages provide an infrastructure for electronically-based social networks or communities that can be exploited as a means for communicating with other design stakeholders, as a medium for storing and providing design information, and as a way of constructing and maintaining “strong” design communities. This paper, via two illustrative case studies, describes a number of Internet-based communication and collaboration tools and their use in “dispersed” designing. ← back | download 2 Mb pg187.zip