Coding and modelling communication in architectural collaborative design

Although there has been some research done on collaborative face-to-face (FTF) and video-conferencing sessions involving architects, little is known about the effects these different media have on collaborative design in general and on collaborative communication and design representation in particular. In this paper, we argue that successful computer-mediated collaborative design (CMCD) does not necessarily mean emulating close-proximity environments. In order to investigate this view, we carried out experiments examining the effect and significance of different communication channels in collaborative sessions between architects. The experiments were conducted in different environments and classified into three categories. The first category is FTF. The second, CMCD sessions with full communication channels, CMCD-a. The third category was conducted also through CMCD sessions but with limited communication channels, CMCD-b. A custom coding scheme is developed using data, external and theoretically derived coding categories as a base. Examples of how the proposed coding scheme works are given from all three categories of experiments. The coding scheme provides the basis for modelling and understanding communication in collaborative design.