A Social Media framework to support Engineering Design Communication

Abstract

a b s t r a c tEngineering Design Communication (EDC) is fundamental to almost all Engineering Design activities as it provides the ability for knowledge and information to be shared between engineers. It is part of 'what we do'. This communication contains a great deal of rationale relating to the evolution of Product Development and is essential for understanding 'why the product is the way it is'. The need to support EDC is becoming more important due to the fact that Product Development is becoming more distributed, multi-disciplinary and involving greater re-use of past designs. With the advent of Social Media (SM), it is argued that there is the technical capability to provide more effective support for EDC within a computer-mediated environment. In order to explore this potential, this paper defines the requirements for the effective support of EDC through an extensive review of the literature. It then discusses the suitability of a SM approach and then presents the theoretical foundations of a SM framework to support EDC.

A novel systematic method to evaluate computer-supported collaborative design technologies

“…Technologies which support CSCD and the technology functionalities which facilitate collaborative design are essential for distributed design in digital or mixed environments. These technologies provide innovative methods of communication, co-operation and co-ordination within an engineering design context with the potential to foster greater collaboration for internal teams, external collaborators and across boundaries (Hicks 2013;Sarka et al 2014). In an increasingly globalised world, CSCD is essential to support the increasingly complex product design process (Brisco et al 2018a).…”

“…Engineering design teams can utilise CSCD technology functionality using, for example, a multi-threaded conversation for the tasks of commenting and replying, or tagging team members for increased awareness and liking posts to show agreement (Gopsill 2014). This functionality has the potential to improve teamwork and change the way engineers work in the future (Zhao and Rosson 2009).…”

Yammer: Investigating its impact on employee knowledge sharing during Product Development

“…Research [4,5,6] shows that the NPD process is increasingly becoming more distributed and multi-disciplinary requiring greater input from dispersed functional departments outside the traditional design centre. Knowledge silos are ever more common in engineering settings, creating the need for bespoke knowledge sharing processes and IT tools aimed at dismantling these silos and loosening the rains of organisational hierarchies.…”

“…Manufacturers, in seeking to capture and disseminate this knowledge, are turning to ESNs in order to: improve innovation; reduce costs while maintaining or improving the quality of new products; increase the speed of product development; and aid employee collaboration [3]. During NPD, employee collaboration is required in order to keep workers connected and working 'on-the-same-page', providing rationale for 'why a product has turned out the way it has' [4]. Manufacturers employing distributed development teams are having to overcome significant challenges, including: managing the explosion of data and newly-emerging knowledge which has been facilitated through the increasing use of ESNs and other technological advances; and establishing effective communication channels for collaboration in dispersed teams.…”

Using Altmetrics as an Engineering Faculty Outreach Tool

“…7 Social media can also enable geographically dispersed design teams to complete projects using asynchronous and synchronous communication. 8 Taking advantage of these functions requires scientists and engineers to communicate strategically. The variety of social web tools available each offer different functions and utilities.…”