Communication and cooperation in a virtual design space

Summary form only given. A major problem in the management of a product development process is to facilitate the continuous communication between perspectives of different stakeholder groups, especially in early phases of design. In this paper we suggest that virtual prototypes-3D models of product prototypes with functionality in virtual reality-are a promising candidate to form the core of a support system that smoothly integrates several of the necessary support functions for multidisciplinary cooperation in design into one system. Thus, we address the question what should be communicated between the different stakeholders in a design situation from the point of view of Activity Theory, an approach well known in the fields of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) and human computer interaction (HCI). Consequently, in addition to the virtual prototype as a common object for supporting cooperation between designers, we identify the following four means for cooperation: by directly changing the state of the object of the cooperative work, through a jointly constructed common information space, through a specially designed coordination mechanism or by active communication between persons through communication channels. Each of these means needs a different kind of computer support, and their importance varies during the design process. We elaborate the concept of virtual prototype into a concept of virtual design space, which could be an environment that integrates these perspectives of cooperation and communication support for a design group.