Neff, Gina; Fiore-Silfvast, Brittany; Dossick, Carrie Sturts. (2010). A Case Study of the Failure of Digital Communication to Cross Knowledge Boundaries in Virtual Construction. Information Communication & Society, 13(4), 556 – 573.
View Publication
Abstract
When can digital artefacts serve to bridge knowledge barriers across epistemic communities? There have been many studies of the roles new information and communication technologies play within organizations. In our study, we compare digital and non-digital methods of inter-organizational collaboration. Based on ethnographic fieldwork on three construction projects and interviews with 65 architects, engineers, and builders across the USA, we find that IT tools designed to increase collaboration in this setting instead solidify and make explicit organizational and cultural differences between project participants. Our study suggests that deeply embedded disciplinary thinking is not easily overcome by digital representations of knowledge and that collaboration may be hindered through the exposure of previously implicit distinctions among the team members' skills and organizational status. The tool that we study, building information modelling, reflects and amplifies disciplinary representations of the building by architects, engineers, and builders instead of supporting increased collaboration among them. We argue that people sometimes have a difficult time overcoming the lack of interpretive flexibility in digital coordinating tools, even when those tools are built to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration.
Keywords
Digital Communications; Data Transmission Systems; Communication & Technology; Digital Electronics; System Analysis; Building Information Modelling; Collaboration; Qualitative Methods; Teams; Civil Engineering Computing; Digital Communication; Groupware; Knowledge Representation; Organisational Aspects; Virtual Reality; Case Study; Virtual Construction; Knowledge Barriers; Epistemic Community; Interorganizational Collaboration; Ethnographic Fieldwork; Interpretive Flexibility; Digital Coordinating Tool; Digital Collaboration; Technology; Objects; Design; Representations; Organizations
Peers, Justin B.; Lindell, Michael K.; Gregg, Christopher E.; Reeves, Ashleigh K.; Joyner, Andrew T.; Johnston, David M. (2021). Multi-Hazard Perceptions at Long Valley Caldera, California, USA. International Journal Of Disaster Risk Reduction, 52.
View Publication
Abstract
Caldera systems such as Long Valley Caldera, California; Taupo, New Zealand; and Campi Flegrei, Italy, experience centuries to millennia without eruption, but have the potential for large eruptions. This raises questions about how local residents' behavioral responses to these low-probability high-consequence events differ from their responses to events, such as wildfires and earthquakes, that have higher probabilities. To examine this issue, a multi-hazard mail survey of 229 households explored perceptions of-and responses to-volcano, earthquake and wildfire hazards in the Long Valley Volcanic Region. Response efficacy was the only significant predictor of emergency preparedness, which suggests that hazard managers can increase household emergency preparedness by emphasizing this attribute of protective actions. In addition to response efficacy, expected personal consequences, hazard intrusiveness, and affective responses were all significantly related to information seeking. This indicates that hazard managers can also increase households' information seeking about local hazards and appropriate protective actions by communicating the certainty and severity of hazard impacts (thus increasing expected personal consequences) and that they communicate this information repeatedly (thus increasing hazard intrusiveness) to produce significant emotional involvement (thus increasing affective response).
Keywords
Households Expected Responses; Risk Information-seeking; Volcanic Risk; Earthquake; Model; Adjustment; Mitigation; Communication; Preparedness; Predictors; Volcano Hazard Perception; Earthquake Hazard Perception; Wildfire Hazard Perception; Emergency Preparedness; Information Seeking
Lin, K. Y.; Levan, A.; Dossick, C. S. (2012). Teaching Life-Cycle Thinking in Construction Materials and Methods: Evaluation of and Deployment Strategies for Life-Cycle Assessment in Construction Engineering and Management Education. Journal Of Professional Issues In Engineering Education And Practice, 138(3), 163 – 170.
View Publication
Keywords
Sustainability; Design
Comu, Semra; Iorio, Josh; Taylor, John E.; Dossick, Carrie Sturts. (2013). Quantifying the Impact of Facilitation on Transactive Memory System Formation in Global Virtual Project Networks. Journal Of Construction Engineering & Management, 139(3), 294 – 303.
View Publication
Abstract
Building strong ties between geographically dispersed project participants is crucial to project success. In global project networks, many firms have adopted virtual collaboration tools to address the challenges imposed by temporal and geographical distance. Some researchers have examined the role of facilitators and found that process facilitation can improve collaboration. Research has also shown that facilitators can be drawn into content interactions, which may negatively impact collaboration effectiveness in virtual workspaces. Research to date has not quantified this negative impact. In this study, the formation and maintenance of transactive memory systems (TMS) in two facilitated and two nonfacilitated global virtual project networks were investigated, each executing a 2-month project. Using TMS formation and cohesive subgroup formation as a proxy for performance, quantitative evidence was found that demonstrates a negative impact on collaboration effectiveness when facilitators engage in content facilitation in virtual project networks. This paper shows that this negative impact restricts the establishment of TMSs. These findings have important implications for understanding and designing appropriate facilitator interactions in global virtual project networks. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000610. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Keywords
Globalisation; Groupware; International Collaboration; Production Engineering Computing; Project Management; Process Facilitation; Transactive Memory System Formation; Global Virtual Project Network; Virtual Collaboration Tool; Temporal Distance; Geographical Distance; Content Interaction; Virtual Workspace; Tms Cohesive Subgroup Formation; Content Facilitation; Knowledge Transfer; Group Cohesiveness; Group Cohesion; Performance; Teams; Models; Globalization; Networks; Project Networks; Social Network Analysis; Transactive Memory Systems; Virtual Teams
Lee, Namhun; Dossick, Carrie S.; Foley, Sean P. (2013). Guideline for Building Information Modeling in Construction Engineering and Management Education. Journal Of Professional Issues In Engineering Education And Practice, 139(4), 266 – 274.
View Publication
Keywords
Buildings (structures); Computer Aided Instruction; Construction Industry; Educational Courses; Management Education; Structural Engineering Computing; Building Information Modeling; Construction Engineering And Management Education; Cem Education; Bim; Cem Curriculum
Dzeng, Ren-jye; Lin, Ken-yu; Wang, Pei-ru. (2014). Building A Construction Procurement Negotiation Training Game Model: Learning Experiences And Outcomes. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 45(6), 1115 – 1135.
View Publication
Abstract
Game-based education is a promising method for encouraging student learning. Although learning construction procurement and negotiation require hands-on practice, in most construction management courses at the college level, this subject is taught by using lectures and case studies. In this study, a construction procurement and negotiation game was developed, and paper-based and web-based versions were implemented. The game enables students to play the role of contractors or suppliers and generate profits by negotiating and procuring or selling reinforcing steel in a simulated market with a probabilistic nature. The experimental results indicate that playing both versions of the game increased student learning motivation, satisfaction and outcomes. Students awarded the web-based game higher assessment scores than they did for the paper-based game. Students playing either version of the game also achieved higher test scores than students who were taught using the traditional approach did. However, for students with work experience, playing the paper-based game resulted in higher scores than the web-based game scores.
Keywords
Educational Games; Simulation Games In Education; Simulation Methods In Education; Game Theory; Academic Motivation; Learning; Contractors; Construction Industry Personnel; Education; Construction Procurement Negotiation Training Game Model; Learning Experiences; Game-based Education; Construction Procurement Learning; Negotiation Learning; Hands-on Practice; Construction Management Courses; Negotiation Game; Paper-based Version; Probabilistic Nature; Student Learning Motivation; Web-based Game; Higher Assessment Scores; Civil Engineering Computing; Computer Based Training; Computer Games; Construction; Educational Courses; Probability; Procurement; Instructional Simulation Game; Motivation; Impact; Achievement; Performance; Skills
The 2019 UW Resilience and Compassion Initiatives Seed Grant supported a project called “Raising Resilience: Connecting Compassion + Well-Being with Pedagogy in the College of Built Environments”. This grant allowed a group of CBE faculty to collaboratively explore their pedagogy and support for students through the lenses of resilience and well-being, systems thinking, and biophilic design. Seed Grant leads include Julie Johnson, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Brooke Sullivan, Landscape Architecture Lecturer. The project sought to continue the work…
The SHARE Lab (Safety and Health Advancement through Research and Education) has produced two ergonomics best practice booklets and two training videos on the use of 4-wheel carts in the roofing trade. Housed in the Department of Construction Management, the mission of the SHARE Lab is to promote construction safety and health through evidence-based innovative research, education, and practices. For more information, please contact Contact Dr. Ken-Yu Lin, Associate Professor, if you’d like access to the guide book or the…
SHARE Lab (Safety and Health Advancement through Research and Education Laboratory) embarks on innovative research that promotes the wellbeing of the construction taskforce and/or reduces occupational injuries and illnesses for the construction industry.
The lab is housed in the Department of Construction Management at the University of Washington and is a part of the Pacific Northwest Center for Construction Research and Education (PNCCRE). The mission of the lab is to promote construction safety and health through evidenced-based innovative research, education, and practices. In particular, the SHARE lab is specialized in creating new knowledge, learning resources, and practical solutions using technology interventions such as wearable sensors, visualization, serious gaming and tablet computers.
Projects completed at the lab include: sensor based physiological status monitoring on construction workers, video gaming development for the training and education of construction safety, information communication technology for field safety inspection, machine-learning based solutions for retrieving and classifying safety resources, and Total Worker Health.
SHARE Lab’s work is supported by domestic stakeholders as well as national institutions and global corporations.
The Integrated Design Lab (IDL) is operated by the Department of Architecture in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. IDL’s mission is to discover solutions that overcome the most difficult building performance barriers, and to meet the building industry’s goals of moving towards radically higher performing buildings and healthy urban environments. The IDL advances their mission through interconnected research, technical assistance, and professional educational and tour programs.
The Integrated Design Lab carries out research to advance knowledge and policies that support the healthiest and highest performing buildings and cities. It measures and analyzes modeled and actual building performance data so as to influence the building industry’s understanding of how to radically improve the design and operation performance of buildings. The performance research includes energy efficiency, daylighting, electric lighting, occupant energy use behavior, human health and productivity in buildings, and advanced building management systems.
The Integrated Design Lab connects its discoveries and the transformative knowledge of others to the building industry and public through education. These offerings include classes, workshops, focus-group meetings, leadership forums, and exhibits of breakthrough technologies intended to transform the market for the highest performing buildings by reaching out and educating current and future leaders on meeting 21st century building performance challenges with the knowledge and policies that favor renewable and regenerative buildings, neighborhoods and cities.
The IDL is a self-sustaining organization that includes interdisciplinary faculty, staff, students, professional collaborators, and partner organizations.