Scrivener, Stephen A R, Harris, David, Clark, Sean, Rockoff, Todd and Smyth, Michael (1995) Designing at a distance via real-time designer-to-designer interaction. In: Groupware for Real-Time Drawing - A Designers Guide. McGraw Hill, pp. 5-23. ISBN 0-07-707899-3

Abstract/Description

This paper describes an experiment in which teams of two designers used a shared computer ‘sketchpad’ to generate design concepts for products while geographically separated by a distance of over 16 300km. The aim of the large separation, which included a large time-zone difference, was to examine critically the capability of the sketchpad to provide useful support for real design work. It was also used to examine potential problems due to the extreme geographic separation of team members and to uncover others which may not have been apparent from localized laboratory studies. The results indicate that the tool is usable and useful for design work at a distance. The paper concludes by pointing to issues that will need to be addressed in developing computer supported co-operative design (CSCD) systems for the whole design process.

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