ActiveNavigator: Toward Real-Time Knowledge Capture and Feedback in Design Workspaces

Journal article, 2018

Knowledge capture and reuse systems, such as interactive table surfaces or smart whiteboards, have long enabled designers to review and revisit the knowledge artifacts generated by their creative work. Advances in data sensing and computation now allow near real-time analysis and feedback to be added this toolbox. In this paper, we outline our exploratory application of real-time speaker identification, audio transcription, linguistic analysis, and proactive content retrieval to design team meetings. We highlight the potential benefits and limitations of tools available to collect and analyze real-time design interactions and identify areas of future exploration for engineering educators and designers. In addition, we consider the implications of these tools for design research; automatic data analysis makes it possible to instrument several design workspaces simultaneously, increasing the chance of capturing critical moments, and increasing the opportunity to draw comparisons and contrasts across teams.