Initial Ideas for Collaborative Tools

Ideation

Refactoring tool:

Takes notes, both written and spoken, and allows the team to re-factor them on the fly to create both large-display representations and documentation.

Takes white board notes and both raw representation and refactored representation allows team to perform the following functions: sharing, storing, cross-referencing based on content and tags, refactoring on an ajacent screen for on the fly documentation and critical discussion.

Connects to internet and the networked libraries of the individuals invovled in the collaboration, cross-refrences with these libraries and posts visual connections on an large format screen.

Computer uses it’s own intelligence to refactor the results of a brainstorm and create it’s own version with meta data that connects to referenced files. This file can be parsed to use in the making process.

Library connector:

Looks at connections between libraries and makes associations between the content to form predictive common interests.
Creates a mood board document from the combinations of libraries surrounding a particular topic,search, or file. Document is set-up for web and print viewing, keeping in mind the excersice of pin-up.

Management

Accountability tool:

A tool that helps organize and establish positive interdepedence and later tracks progress on the project by individual accoutability.

Project phases feature:

A function of tools that is aware of project phases and adapts intelligently to offer assistance according to the particular project phase.

Project Diagram

I think at the heart of what we are trying to do lies a need to fully appreciate and understand what it is that a project entails, and to then figure out how we want to create, capture, and navigate, and share them. Above is a stab at a taxonomy of the concept of “project”. Each piece and sub-piece of the project is surrounded by a cycle of thinking and making, and each piece is capable of informing or contributing to the other pieces. What is important here is not that the causal process of the project be defined, but rather the basic categorization of the pieces that both support the process and are a product of the process. Also, it is important to note that it is the whole project that creates a bridge between a designer and the audience designed for, not just the final output, and that the relationship between the designer and the project is itself mediated by the tools which allow the designer to work within it.

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