Papers by Jonathan Ostwald
Collaborative Information Environments for LifeLong Learning in Communities
Computer-based design environments for skilled domain workers have recently graduated from resear... more Computer-based design environments for skilled domain workers have recently graduated from research prototypes to commercial products, supporting the learning of ind i- vidual designers. Such systems do not, however, ade- quately support the collaborative nature of work or the evolution of knowledge within communities of practice. If innovation is to be supported within collaborative efforts, domain-oriented design environments must be
Collaborative Domain Construction
Domain-oriented systems offer many potential benefits for end-users such as more intuitive interf... more Domain-oriented systems offer many potential benefits for end-users such as more intuitive interfaces, better task support, and knowledge-based assistance. A key challenge for system developers constructing domain-oriented systems is determining what the current domain is and what the future domain should be; i.e. what entities should the system embody and how should they be represented. Determining an appropriate domain model
IFIP WG5.2 Publications, 1991
We are exploring the use of hypermedia to build information systems to support design by providin... more We are exploring the use of hypermedia to build information systems to support design by providing a structured database of issues and arguments relevant to the task at hand. For even relatively simple domains the issue base is large and strategies are needed to guide the user to the relevant information. A technique known as "virtual structures" allows the hyperdocument to react to the changing design situation, presenting the designers with a view that is tailored to the problem they are trying to solve.
Our research on knowledge management is rooted in the community perspective. We believe that know... more Our research on knowledge management is rooted in the community perspective. We believe that knowledge systems should serve primarily to help people create and share new knowledge. But we also acknowledge the role of stable, structured and reliable information, both as a component of our systems and as a component of the organizations within which we work. The contribution of the paper is a framework for integrating organizational and community perspectives on knowledge management and its computational support. Our basic idea is that knowledge is not a static chunk of information, but rather, knowledge evolves in a cycle of knowledge liquidization and crystallization. The evolving process takes place through the interactions among conceptual worlds, representational worlds, and the real world. This paper first describes the knowledge liquidization and crystallization framework. We then illustrate the approach with three systems, Knowledge Nebula Crystallizer, livingOM, and ART-SHTA.
Participatory Design, 2002
Historically, participatory design (PD) has focused on system development at design time by bring... more Historically, participatory design (PD) has focused on system development at design time by bringing developers and users together to envision contexts of use. But despite the best efforts at design time, systems need to evolve at use time to fit new needs, account for changing tasks, and incorporate new technologies. In this paper, we argue that systems should be designed
In our long-term efforts to support collaborative learning, we are exploring how to supplement co... more In our long-term efforts to support collaborative learning, we are exploring how to supplement community- based learning theories with innovative collaborative technologies. Inspired by a process model that underlies the evolutionary and decentralized development of open systems, we reconceptualize courses as seeds rather than as finished products. This paper outlines the conceptual framework underlying the courses-as-seeds model and contrasts it
Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series, 2005
Design is a rich domain in which to investigate barriers and biases in computersupported communic... more Design is a rich domain in which to investigate barriers and biases in computersupported communication because it involves many different modes of communication in socialtechnical contexts. This chapter briefly describes different design approaches. It analyzes the biases and barriers of two different types of design communities: communities of practice and communities of interest. To address the communication challenges between diverse design communities, boundary objects are needed to establish common ground and shared understanding in the context of complex design tasks. We explore the unique possibilities that computational media have to support our conceptual framework. Our work is based on the fundamental belief that there is no media-independent communication and interaction-that tools, materials, and social arrangements are always involved in some way in these activities. The possibilities and the practice of design are functions of the media with which we design. We present examples of such environments from our work.
Posters and short talks of the 1992 SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '92, 1992
We are building and testing a set of computer-based design tools for creating telephone operator ... more We are building and testing a set of computer-based design tools for creating telephone operator services. Currently at NYNEX, operator services are created by a small team of skilled developers using a programming language called SCL (Service Creation Language).
Conference companion on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '94, 1994
We describe an approach to acquiring information during the creation and use of domain-oriented d... more We describe an approach to acquiring information during the creation and use of domain-oriented design environments. Our model consists of three phases: seeding, evolutionary growth, and reseeding.
Proceedings of the conference on Designing interactive systems processes, practices, methods, & techniques - DIS '95, 1995
The design of complex artifacts is essentially an evolutionary process that requires collaboratio... more The design of complex artifacts is essentially an evolutionary process that requires collaboration among stakeholders. Domain-oriented design environments (DODEs) support the evolution of artifacts both by individual designers and by designers participating in longterm, indirect collaboration. DODEs provide representations for generic and specific levels of context. This context supports individual designers by making the information space relevant to the current design intent, and longterm collaboration among designers by allowing them to ground their communication around design artifacts. We demonstrate our approach using the KID (Knowing-in-Design) system, articulate principles for representations of context and intent, and discuss various approaches to represent intent and context in design environments. KEYWORDS: domain-oriented design environments, shared context, explicit representations for intent, communication of intent, evolution of design artifacts, knowledge-based information delivery, long-term indirect collaboration
Embedding computer-based critics in the contexts of design
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '93, 1993
Abstract Computational critiquing mechanisms provide an effective form of computer-human interact... more Abstract Computational critiquing mechanisms provide an effective form of computer-human interaction supporting the process of design. Critics embedded in domain-oriented design environments can take advantage of additional knowledge residing in these environments to provide less intrusive, more relevant critiques. Three classes of embedded critics have been designed, implemented, and studied: Generic critics use domain knowledge to detect problematic situations in the design construction. Specific critics take advantage of ...
Phidias: A PHI-based Design Environment Integrating CAD Graphics into Dynamic Hypertext
European Conference on Hypertext, 1990
The Knowledge Engineering Review, 1993
Human understanding in design evolves through a process of critiquing existing knowledge and cons... more Human understanding in design evolves through a process of critiquing existing knowledge and consequently expanding the store of design knowledge. Critiquing is a dialog in which the interjection of a reasoned opinion about a product or action triggers further reflection on or changes to the artifact being designed. Our work has focused on applying this successful human critiquing paradigm to humancomputer interaction. We argue that computer-based critiquing systems are most effective when they are embedded in domain-oriented design environments, which are knowledge-based computer systems that support designers in specifying a problem and constructing a solution. Embedded critics play a number of important roles in such design environments: (1) they increase the designer's understanding of design situations by pointing out problematic situations early in the design process, (2) they support the integration of problem framing and problem solving by providing a linkage between the design specification and the design construction, and (3) they help designers access relevant information in the large information spaces provided by the design environment. Three embedded critiquing mechanismsgeneric, specific, and interpretive critics -are presented, and their complementary roles within the design environment architecture are described.
Computer-assisted assignment of educational standards using natural language processing
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2011
Educational standards are a central focus of the cur-rent educational system in the United States... more Educational standards are a central focus of the cur-rent educational system in the United States, underpin-ning educational practice, curriculum design, teacher professional development, and high-stakes testing and assessment. Digital library users have ...
IEEE Intelligent Systems, 2001
Supporting Indirect Collaborative Design With Integrated Knowledge-Based Design Environments
Human-Computer Interaction, 1992
We are developing a conceptual framework and a demonstration system for collaboration among membe... more We are developing a conceptual framework and a demonstration system for collaboration among members of design teams when direct communication among these members is impossible or impractical. Our research focuses on the long-term, indirect communication needs of ...
Computers in Education, 2002. …, 2002
Informed participation is an approach for community-based learning and design in which all partic... more Informed participation is an approach for community-based learning and design in which all participants actively contribute toward the framing and solving of complex and multidisciplinary problems. Informed participants go beyond the information given to ...
Journal of Universal …, 2004
Our research on knowledge management is rooted in the community perspective. We believe that know... more Our research on knowledge management is rooted in the community perspective. We believe that knowledge systems should serve primarily to help people create and share new knowledge. But we also acknowledge the role of stable, structured and reliable information, both as a component of our systems and as a component of the organizations within which we work. The contribution of the paper is a framework for integrating organizational and community perspectives on knowledge management and its computational support. Our basic idea is that knowledge is not a static chunk of information, but rather, knowledge evolves in a cycle of knowledge liquidization and crystallization. The evolving process takes place through the interactions among conceptual worlds, representational worlds, and the real world. This paper first describes the knowledge liquidization and crystallization framework. We then illustrate the approach with three systems, Knowledge Nebula Crystallizer, livingOM, and ART-SHTA.
Uploads
Papers by Jonathan Ostwald