Acquiring design rationale automatically

The value of comprehensive rationale for documenting a design has long been recognized. However, designers rarely produce detailed rationale in practice because of the substantial time investment required. Efforts to support the acquisition of rationale information have focused on languages and tool...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AI EDAM 2000-04, Vol.14 (2), p.115-135
Main Authors: MYERS, KAREN L., ZUMEL, NINA B., GARCIA, PABLO
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automated Acquisition
Clustering
Design Rationale
Knowledge-based Methods
Plan Recognition
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Summary:The value of comprehensive rationale for documenting a design has long been recognized. However, designers rarely produce detailed rationale in practice because of the substantial time investment required. Efforts to support the acquisition of rationale information have focused on languages and tools for structuring the acquisition process, but still require substantial involvement on the part of the designer. This paper describes an experimental system, the Rationale Construction Framework (RCF), that acquires rationale information for the detailed design process without disrupting a designer's normal activities. The underlying approach involves monitoring designer interactions with a commercial computer-assisted design (CAD) tool to produce a rich process history. This history is subsequently structured and interpreted relative to a background theory of design metaphors that enable explanation of certain aspects of the design process. The framework provides an environment that can acquire rich, meaningful rationale information in a time- and cost-effective manner, with minimal disruption to the designer.
ISSN:0890-0604
1469-1760
DOI:10.1017/S0890060400142027