TY - GEN
T1 - An Ethnographic Enquiry into Digital Design Tool Making
AU - Bissoonauth, Chitraj
AU - Fischer, Thomas
AU - Herr, Christiane M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 and published by the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This paper presents an ethnographic pilot study into the design and application of digital design tools in a leading Shanghai-based architecture and engineering firm. From a participant observer's point of view, we employ qualitative research methods to enquire the conditions and experiences entailed in day-to-day collaborative activities in conjunction with the custom-development of digital design tools in advanced practice. The described initial ethnographic enquiry lasted for six weeks. While previous studies tended to favour post-rationalised and outcome-focused reports into toolmaking for design, we observe through participant observation that daily collaboration in practice is multi-faceted and overwhelmingly more complex. This paper further portrays and reflects on the concomitant opportunities and challenges of participant observation as a research method that can bridge academia and practice. We argue that, in order to appreciate and to inform digital design toolmaking practices, it is essential to recognise the richness of practice, in and of itself.
AB - This paper presents an ethnographic pilot study into the design and application of digital design tools in a leading Shanghai-based architecture and engineering firm. From a participant observer's point of view, we employ qualitative research methods to enquire the conditions and experiences entailed in day-to-day collaborative activities in conjunction with the custom-development of digital design tools in advanced practice. The described initial ethnographic enquiry lasted for six weeks. While previous studies tended to favour post-rationalised and outcome-focused reports into toolmaking for design, we observe through participant observation that daily collaboration in practice is multi-faceted and overwhelmingly more complex. This paper further portrays and reflects on the concomitant opportunities and challenges of participant observation as a research method that can bridge academia and practice. We argue that, in order to appreciate and to inform digital design toolmaking practices, it is essential to recognise the richness of practice, in and of itself.
KW - Collaborative processes
KW - Custom-developed tools
KW - Digital design toolmaking
KW - Ethnography
KW - Participant observation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091696044&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference Proceeding
AN - SCOPUS:85091696044
T3 - RE: Anthropocene, Design in the Age of Humans - Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, CAADRIA 2020
SP - 213
EP - 222
BT - RE
A2 - Holzer, Dominik
A2 - Nakapan, Walaiporn
A2 - Globa, Anastasia
A2 - Koh, Immanuel
PB - The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA)
T2 - 25th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, CAADRIA 2020
Y2 - 5 August 2020 through 6 August 2020
ER -