Cognitive Dust: Linking CSCW Theories to Creative Design Processes

Results from empirical research in requirements engineering lead us to characterise work processes, not as evolutionary and systematic, but as semi structured, emergent and creative. These same properties are found in situated action models where work is described as emergent and self defining. At another level within these processes, we use the term "cognitive dust" to describe the external and distributed cognitive representations suspended in a small group workspace. These cognitive representations are components of communicative actions between humans, or between humans and their technological infrastructures, and are part of these creative processes. We use a multi modal sensor infrastructure, which is situated in a ubiquitous workspace, to observe and capture this cognitive dust. We hypothesise that, if an infrastructure can capture enough of these representations and extract enough semantic meaning to "understand" the communicative intentions, the infrastructure can dynamically support creative, unstructured activities. This paper sets out the conceptual, theoretical framework for this research by linking known CSCW theories with the emergent, unstructured or semi structured nature of creative work processes within small groups such as designers