Architecture of a computer-mediated collaborative product development environment

This paper describes the development of a compute-mediated collaborative product development environment (COMCOPE) within the context of the construction industry, a collaborative project between Anglia Polytechnic University, the University of Strathclyde, and some industrial partners. The most prominent feature about COMCOPE lies in the particular emphasis on supporting human-human interaction across time and space through computer mediation within a distributed and networked environment. Based on a review of related research areas, traditional computer integrated construction concepts have been extended within the framework of computer supported cooperative work, which results in the COMCOPE conceptual architecture. As the core of COMCOPE architecture an interaction model has been developed to help articulate collaborative activities. Implementation issues have been addressed, and a prototype system, based on an augmented client-server model, has been outlined.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.