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People-Centred Technologies

Knowledge Collaboration

The NRC Institute for Information Technology (NRC-IIT) collaborative research project, Knowledge Collaboration, is conducted in partnership with the Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Brunswick and other government and industrial partners. The project began in 2001 and is ongoing.

The aim of this project is to develop design principles and innovative user interfaces for virtual collaborative environments (VCEs) and virtual teams that facilitate scientific and industrial collaboration and that advance knowledge and technology transfer. Through research and development efforts, the project will develop innovative models and frameworks for knowledge transfer and collaboration in the virtual teams and communities of practice.

Subproject: The Information Categorization for Construction Groupware

In the framework of the Knowledge Collaboration project, the subproject on “The Information Categorization for Construction Groupware” is carried out under the joint supervision of NRC IIT e-Business and the Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Brunswick (UNB) researchers. This collaborative research effort began in September 2002 and is expected to end in December 2003.

The aim of the “Information Categorization” subproject is to enable timely sharing of relevant electronic project information for participants in Architectural Engineering Construction and Facilities Management (AEC/FM) projects. This subproject focuses on developing better support for project management groupware to achieve more complete and timely sharing of information.

Research Context
One challenge of existing groupware tools is the varying information categorization needs of different Architectural Engineering Construction and Facilities Management (AEC/FM) project participants within the same groupware environment. This research project will develop a comprehensive project information categorization scheme that would allow participant-specific views of the AEC/FM project information to be rendered.

We expect to publish a comprehensive categorization scheme that captures and caters to the needs of all AEC/FM participants. This scheme could be incorporated in groupware applications to allow participants to specify personalized views over the same data in a manner that reflects their role, activities, and preferences relative to the project collective.

Opportunities

We welcome collaboration with individuals or organizations that would like to further the results of this research by investigating the visualization potential for the categorization scheme presented in “The Information Categorization for Construction Groupware”project. This would include how to present the categorization and how to support its manipulation most effectively.

Research opportunities
We welcome anyone interested in research collaboration in the areas of:

virtual communities of practice;
computer-supported collaborative work;
knowledge management.

If interested, please contact the research contact listed below.

Technical transfer opportunities
Our research results could have an impact on the following sectors:

e-government;
e-health;
e-learning;
technology transfer;
AEC/FM industries with generalized applicability beyond - possible applications include related groupware applications within the AEC/FM field, or in principle, any shared data organization resource.

Please contact the Business Development Officer listed below to discuss these opportunities.

Research Contact

Dr. Irina Kondratova
Group Leader
People-Centred Technologies
NRC Institute for Information Technology
46 Dineen Drive
Fredericton, NB E3B 9W4
Telephone: +1 (506) 444-0489
Fax: +1 (506) 452-3859
E-mail: Irina.Kondratova@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

Business Contact

Marc-Alain Mallet
Business Development Officer
Business Development Office, New Brunswick
NRC Institute for Information Technology
46 Dineen Drive
Fredericton, NB E3B 9W4
Telephone: +1 (506) 444-0394
Fax: +1 (506) 452-3859
E-mail: Marc-Alain.Mallet@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca