Documentation in Progress: Challenges With Representing Design Process Online
Web-based documentation platforms afford lightweight and visually rich mechanisms for designers to share documentation online, yet present challenges regarding representation, particularly for collaborative teams. This paper highlights some of these issues through a descriptive case study based on t...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109216 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1407-0723 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7776-3423 |
| _version_ | 1826199482446905344 |
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| author | Ruthmann, Stephen Tseng, Tiffany Yang, Maria C. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Ruthmann, Stephen Tseng, Tiffany Yang, Maria C. |
| author_sort | Ruthmann, Stephen |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Web-based documentation platforms afford lightweight and visually rich mechanisms for designers to share documentation online, yet present challenges regarding representation, particularly for collaborative teams. This paper highlights some of these issues through a descriptive case study based on the use of a new web-based social media tool for documenting the development of design projects called Build in Progress. Undergraduate students worked in teams to design musical construction kits and documented their process using Build in Progress over the course of three weeks. We examined students’ project pages to determine trends with how students visually represented their design process, and we gathered students’ experiences using the platform through surveys and interviews with select project teams. We found that groups developed their own representations of their design process via tree structures afforded by Build in Progress that present the simultaneous development of distinct elements of their projects and highlight the contributions of each student on the team. The interviews revealed differences between how internal and external documentation are presented and contrasting approaches to creating narrative and instructional documentation based on the intended audience. In particular, we found that students interpreted the tool as one used to help others recreate their design, which led to the omission of several parts of their design process, including experimentation and mistakes. These results suggest the need to further develop tools to support reflection on process rather than product. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:20:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/109216 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:20:56Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1092162022-09-27T18:55:54Z Documentation in Progress: Challenges With Representing Design Process Online Ruthmann, Stephen Tseng, Tiffany Yang, Maria C. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Tseng, Tiffany Yang, Maria Web-based documentation platforms afford lightweight and visually rich mechanisms for designers to share documentation online, yet present challenges regarding representation, particularly for collaborative teams. This paper highlights some of these issues through a descriptive case study based on the use of a new web-based social media tool for documenting the development of design projects called Build in Progress. Undergraduate students worked in teams to design musical construction kits and documented their process using Build in Progress over the course of three weeks. We examined students’ project pages to determine trends with how students visually represented their design process, and we gathered students’ experiences using the platform through surveys and interviews with select project teams. We found that groups developed their own representations of their design process via tree structures afforded by Build in Progress that present the simultaneous development of distinct elements of their projects and highlight the contributions of each student on the team. The interviews revealed differences between how internal and external documentation are presented and contrasting approaches to creating narrative and instructional documentation based on the intended audience. In particular, we found that students interpreted the tool as one used to help others recreate their design, which led to the omission of several parts of their design process, including experimentation and mistakes. These results suggest the need to further develop tools to support reflection on process rather than product. 2017-05-19T17:13:09Z 2017-05-19T17:13:09Z 2014-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper 978-0-7918-4634-6 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109216 Tseng, Tiffany, Maria Yang, and Stephen Ruthmann. “Documentation in Progress: Challenges With Representing Design Process Online.” Volume 3: 16th International Conference on Advanced Vehicle Technologies; 11th International Conference on Design Education; 7th Frontiers in Biomedical Devices (August 17, 2014). © 2014 ASME International https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1407-0723 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7776-3423 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/DETC2014-34686 Volume 3: 16th International Conference on Advanced Vehicle Technologies; 11th International Conference on Design Education; 7th Frontiers in Biomedical Devices Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) |
| spellingShingle | Ruthmann, Stephen Tseng, Tiffany Yang, Maria C. Documentation in Progress: Challenges With Representing Design Process Online |
| title | Documentation in Progress: Challenges With Representing Design Process Online |
| title_full | Documentation in Progress: Challenges With Representing Design Process Online |
| title_fullStr | Documentation in Progress: Challenges With Representing Design Process Online |
| title_full_unstemmed | Documentation in Progress: Challenges With Representing Design Process Online |
| title_short | Documentation in Progress: Challenges With Representing Design Process Online |
| title_sort | documentation in progress challenges with representing design process online |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109216 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1407-0723 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7776-3423 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ruthmannstephen documentationinprogresschallengeswithrepresentingdesignprocessonline AT tsengtiffany documentationinprogresschallengeswithrepresentingdesignprocessonline AT yangmariac documentationinprogresschallengeswithrepresentingdesignprocessonline |