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Equations aren’t enough: informal modeling in design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2009

Eswaran Subrahmanian
Affiliation:
Engineering Design Research Center
Suresh L. Konda
Affiliation:
Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213,
Sean N. Levy
Affiliation:
Engineering Design Research Center
Yoram Reich
Affiliation:
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706, U.S.A.
Arthur W. Westerberg
Affiliation:
Engineering Design Research Center
Ira Monarch
Affiliation:
Engineering Design Research Center

Abstract

Arguing that design is a social process, we expand the meaning of modeling and analysis to include all activities facilitating continual refinement and criticism of the design requirements, process and solutions. We do not assume any a priori methods for modeling or analysis; rather, we provide a framework and an approach to study designers and give them whatever modeling and analysis capabilities they choose. Our approach is the basis for a support tool, n–dim, currently under development.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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