A complex systems perspecitve on computer-supported collaborative design technology

Collborative design is challenging in that strong interdependencies between design issues make it difficult to converge on a single design that satisfies these dependencies and is acceptable to all participants. A central focus of complex systems research is the dynamics of distributed networks. Suc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications of the ACM 2002-11, Vol.45 (11), p.27
Main Authors: Klein, Mark, Sayama, Hiroki, Faratin, Peyman, Bar-Yam, Yaneer
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
CAD
Collaboration
Computer aided design
Computer networks
Systems design
Teamwork
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Collborative design is challenging in that strong interdependencies between design issues make it difficult to converge on a single design that satisfies these dependencies and is acceptable to all participants. A central focus of complex systems research is the dynamics of distributed networks. Such networks are typically modeled as multiple nodes, in which each node represents a state variable with a given value. Each node in a network tries to select the value that optimzes its own utility while maximizing its consistency with the influence from the other nodes. Since all nodes update their local state concurrently based on their current context, the choices they make may no longer be the best ones in the new context of node states. This is a useful model for understanding the dynamics of collaborative design. Once the design of complex artifact has been distributed to manh players, encouraging proper influence relationships and local search strategies is the primary tool available to design managers, and should therefore be supported by computer-supported collaborative design technology.
ISSN:0001-0782
1557-7317
DOI:10.1145/581571.581589