A Systems View of the Building Process

The Integrated Building Process Model (IBPM), developed over 20 years ago, provides a very valuable framework for the processes performed to deliver a facility project. This model defines, in generic terms, a series of processes performed when planning, designing, constructing and operating a facility. The facility could be a building, road or industrial facility. The overall goal of this model was to outline a framework for supporting the implementation of technology into the process.

It is now time to revisit this model to determine how we can use, and modify as needed, this foundational model of the facility delivery process. By integrating this model, along with more recent modeling efforts performed for specific Information Delivery Manuals and the BIM Project Execution Planning Guide, we can organize the development processes and information exchanges throughout the lifecycle of a facility. This will require a new, systems view of the process which was not originally embedded into the IBPM, which dives into a level of detail that allows for specific, system level detail. For example, one of the most detailed Information Delivery Manuals is the Precast Concrete IDM led by Chuck Eastman's group at Georgia Tech. This highly detailed IDM discusses the specific processes for designing, fabricating and constructing precast concrete elements for a project. Currently, these detailed processes only tangentially map into the IBPM processes, but a more detailed structural system process element breakdown could be developed to explicitly map these processes into the larger process for a project.

There will be some clear challenges in developing the process which will require some innovative solutions. Some challenges that are envisioned include:
1) The need to allow for variations in the process based on project characteristics including delivery approach, facility design, team member standard procedures, and other characteristics.
2) The common definition of systems that is all inclusive. The Omniclass classifications will assist in this area.
3) The organization of a process map that is easy to understand and modify by the project team while remaining adequately detailed to drive the process automation.

Progress

I saw a T-Square in the trash can outside my office. I was not sad.

Augmented Reality

Of the many potential uses of Augmented Reality (AR), the current use as an interface device is quite interesting. VTT in Finland has developed a prototype of an AR system for viewing 3D models, along with an input device, using markers on a table with a head mounted display for each viewer. This can provide an interactive collaborative environment where different people have different views of a 3D model (with potentially different information) yet they remain collocated. If the challenges of the awkward glasses, occlusion issues (e.g., how do you point to something in the middle of the model with another person seeing what you are pointing to), tracking stability and others can be overcome, this could be the 3D display and interface of choice for many applications in the future, at least until an effective holographic display can be developed. A video of the prototype can be found demo section at http://virtual.vtt.fi/virtual/proj2/multimedia/

BIM Positions

A good article regarding potential future BIM positions in companies was posted to AEC Bytes. This lists chief BIM officers and model managers as core roles in future companies.

Flow

Notes from the book Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Wow, what an interesting book.

One concept that is valuable is the difference between enjoyment and pleasure. This clearly explains why students enjoy challenging classes.

8 elements of enjoyment (p 49):

• A Challenging Activity that Requires Skills
  
• We are able to concentrate
  
• The task has clear goals
  
• The feedback is immediate
  
• The task requires effortless involvement that removes the person from awareness the worries of life
  
• People can exercise a sense of control
  
• Concern for the self disappears
  
• Sense of the duration of time is altered

Return to the One Room Schoolhouse (on Steroids)

Return to the One Room Schoolhouse (on Steroids)

During a recent trip to Boogersburg School with my son and his 3rd grade class, it struck me that the type of activities that we are aiming to perform on a tablet PC are similar to the tools available in the old days (and since have seemed to disappear). While in a spelling lesson at the school, the teacher asks the students to take out there slate (not a slate computer, but the old style slate with chalk). The students would use their slate to practice their spelling words (and then erase them), and then draw maps for geography (and then erase them). After performing each activity, they were asks to hold up their slate so the teacher could see their work. They were all proud to do so.

There were some other interesting concepts that the one room schoolhouse model contained that seem to have become almost extinct. One was the role of student as a teacher. In the schoolhouse which had students from grade 1 to 8, the older students would help younger students. With our current segregation by grade and specific topic, opportunities to take advantage of the 'learning by teaching' concept are limited. The school also had many families with multiple siblings in the class. This was also good for older children teaching younger children.

The schoolhouse in general was an excellent learning opportunity for the children to learn about true sustainability. They did not waste items. They did not use paper (instead the slates), they were careful to conserve water (primarily because they had to walk to the nearby farm to get water), they used natural ventilation in the building, and they even had a very early model of the waterless urinal (an outhouse).

While we have come a long way in education, sometimes we may wish to reflect on what we have given up in the process, and take advantage of the past...

BIM, is it prototyping or documentation?

There seems to be a fundamental challenge in the conflicting goals of the development of virtual prototypes (which are developed for design and decision making), and final virtual models which are developed for documentation of design decisions. The challenge is to identify the appropriate time to move from prototypes to digital model. Any potential information reuse between the prototyping process and the digital model can be valuable, particularly if it makes the prototyping process more efficient.

Diffusion of Innovative Technologies

J.T. Taylor from UT Austin had an interested presentation at the 2007 CRC Conference. He presented research focused on the adoption (or diffusion) of innovative technologies in different cultures. He specifically compared the US and Finland. The research shows that diffusion of the technology occurred much more rapidly in Finland, and he postulated that this occurred due to the following five factors: Alignment, relational stability, interests, boundary permeability, and agent for network change. Some other interested items where that he related his work to the work of Rogers on different types of adopters and used the constant comparative method within his research methodology.

Innovaya

The Innovaya training last Friday illustrated some of the capabilities and unique characteristics of the software. Innovaya allows you to easily publish a Revit model to an inv file, which can be used in the estimating and scheduling software. It is relatively easy to then use the file to develop quantities and tie them to assemblies within Timberline. This is definitely not an automated process (unless you would revise the families in Revit), but it is definitely easy to use the visual estimator to make sure that you takeoff and estimate the entire project.

The 4D modeling application has some unique characteristics including the viewing of a CPM schedule in MS Project while viewing the 4D model, and the use of different rules to illustrate color of objects. It also allows for the use of Revit phasing for the automated generation of a phasing model in 4D.

Prototyping the Digital Model

One important item when planning a model is to perform a virtual prototype of the digital model. This will assist with the definition of the appropriate information / elements to include and the appropriate level of detail for these elements. It can also assist with the identification of any interoperability issues if multiple applications or participants are involved in the modeling process.

Knowledge Management and Learning Organizations

Paul Chinowsky wrote a paper for the 2007 ASCE CRC focused on the integration of KM and LO theory. One of the most interesting points that he made was that there tends to be a lack of appropriate implementation of communities of practice. This could be support for communities of practice in the Electri International Knowledge Network and the Courtsweb site.

Information and Decisions

"The more we know, the more clearly we realize what we don't know."

- Dietric Dörner in The Logic of Failure (p. 99)

Dörner discusses the impact of information and knowledge on decision making. He postulates that more information can aid in improved decisions, but can also lead to paralysis.

He also discusses the impact of time, and provides a great example of how decisions changed when time constraints were placed on the decision makers. As the time allowed to make a decision is increased, people gather more information. This can be good, but can also bring someone to inaction (due to developing more questions than answers) or resignation of complexity to where they focus on a single goal. Dorner sates that good participants gather "enough" information. (p. 103). This would be interesting to test when we develop a simulation activity, e.g., what is the impact of changing how much time people have to make decisions.

Game Interface

Another valuable game for interface ideas is Zoo Tycon 2. This game allows you to build a zoo, monitor the economics, and design new spaces. Quite a cleaver and easy to learn interface. Beware, it is addictive.

The 4th Dimension

Dietrich Dörner in his book The Logic of Failure discusses the challenges that people have with conceptualizing the impact of the 4^th dimension. He also has a great quote which is "We live and act in a four-dimensional system. In addition to the three dimensions of space, this system includes the fourth dimension of time, which moves in one direction, and that direction is toward the future." (p. 107) One of his main points is that people have a very difficult time interpreting the impact of trends over a longer time period, e.g., the impact of exponential growth.

Tablet PC Sketching Applications

After reviewing several 2D sketching applications, the following two seem most appropriate and easy to use. The first is Artrage 2 at http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html I found that this is extremely easy to use and a very good for sketching, painting, etc. The main features are available in a free version, but for $20 you can get a version that supports layers, etc. You can even import a drawing and sketch over the drawing with the colors taken from the drawing (this is very neat for novice sketchers like myself).

The second in Alias Sketchbook Pro at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=6848416 Alias was recently purchased by Autodesk. This application is also good (probably better for clean crisp pencil drawing with multiple layers but doesn't have the same painting details related to canvas) but the license is $200 for a regular version. It seems to have better import/export options and an incorporated layering system. There is a third application frequently references which is Corel Grifigo, but I have never been able to get this application to work efficiently on my two different tablets. Quite frustrating since it does have some interesting collaborative features.

Be warned, you may want to get rid of your sketch books after you try these applications.

Avatar Scene Creator

The new generation of internet based kid games never ceases to amaze me. For example, the latest game that my children found for me is the Avatar Scene Creator developed in Flash. This is probably more accurately referred to as an authoring environment, not a game since it allows for the development of a movie, with animation, characters, etc., by using a very simple user interface. I'm sure there are many more applications like this coming in the future. I just hope that some of them relate to construction and engineering education...

The Logic of Failure

The book 'The Logic of Failure' by Dietrich Dorner contains very interesting discussions and research results regarding decision making during the design and planning of complex systems. One part of the book separates conversations into 3 categories: 1) Decisions; 2) Reflection; and 3) Questions (page 16). He found that people (using computer simulations of complex simulations of cities) would tend to make many decisions in the early stages of a simulation (e.g., the first 1 or 2 rounds of an exercise), but then make fewer decisions each period, thus illustrating the human nature to stay on course with early decisions. He also found that better participants would make many more decisions throughout the course of the simulation. In addition, good participants would consider more aspects when evaluating the impact of their decision toward meeting a goal. It would be interesting to collect similar data in the Renzo simulation, or in the construction sequencing activities.

Dorner also discusses goals. He postulates that general goals are of no use unless they are broken into partial goals. He also discusses 'repair service' behavior which is to seek out broken items in a simulation and try to fix them, instead of trying to manage a complex situation. This repair service mentality can lead to solving the wrong problems or the emergence of new problems based on the changes made to solve a less important problem (page 60 - 63).

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point book discusses the causes of epidemics. It is interesting to consider if the use of virtual modeling within construction is close to an epidemic status. The book discusses how a small group of people can cause an edipemic to start and spread. If you look at construction, the use of virtual design and construction tools has existed for some time, but it is now gaining significant momentum and could become mainstream within the next few years.

Everything Bad is Good for You

The book 'Everything Bad is Good for You' by Steven Johnson contains some interesting arguments that support the notion that video games (along with other media forms) are making people smarter. This argument is composed of the premise that video games encourage 'probing' and 'telescoping' as compared to activities such as reading which encourages following a story. Therefore, video games can teach people how to solve problems by setting goals and objectives. Another interesting point is that most complex video games are hard. They are not mindless escapes as they are typically portrayed, and they can teach patience. Also, smaller puzzles are embedded into the game. Probing was defined by a 4 step process of 'probing', 'hypothesis', 'reprobing' and 'rethinking'.

The lure of the video game relys upon rewards. The reward system is critical to game design. Incremental incentives keep players in the game. This reward system involves the same physiological response as other addictions.

Games contain a game 'physics' which describe how things function within the game (or simulation). The physics can include physical properties (e.g., gravity), but also includes different simulation variables such as the economy, political environment, etc.

Another argument within this book focuses on the fact that television programs are becoming more complex with more threads and fewer pointers. They force viewers to fill in the blanks and follow many threads of a story at the same time, therefore invoking more thinking during the viewing.

Some general thoughts on the application of these ideas to Computer Integrated Construction Research:

First, the argument supports the justification that games (or advanced computer simulations) assist in developing learning capabilities. The book does not focus on content, but instead on the development of learning skills.

Second, there is a need to develop a game 'physics' that will support more advanced simulation applications within the construction fields. This physics should look at different levels within the construction environment. For example, the physics associated with detailed planning and execution on a site could differ (yet be related to) the physics of operating a construction business and the higher level project development / delivery decisions for a project. Dr. Toole's initial efforts to model the physics of a construction project within iThink could be one interesting initiative to investigate. On a company level, the efforts by the developers of the Arousal simulation application also provides a reference point.

Mindmanager CPM Application

The JCVGantt scheduling application is developed to integrate seemlessly with Mindmanager which allows for the visual planning interface for brainstorming a schedule with the Gantt scheduling application. This could be a valuable user interface example for developing sequences that are integrated with a Gantt chart schedule.

Second Life

Second Life is an online mega multiplayer game that provides a model for what the future of open ended learning environments may entail. Within the environment, you can create content of your chose to develop an educational environment. They have also collaborated with different universities (see http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,65052,00.html). I'm not sure that this environment is appropriate for engineering education, but it is incredibly flexible and may be able to be applied to engineering education.

Field Guide to Educational Simulation

Clark Aldrich posted a Field Guide to Educational Simulation on the web. It has a discussion and framework regarding different types of educational simulations. Aldrich is the developer of the Virtual Leader simulation and has written several books on educational simulation. This is a good starting point guide.

Virtual Leader Simulation Game

Virtual Leader is an educational simulation developed to teach leadership skills. It is available at the Simulearn website. There is also a book written about the development of this simulation titled Simulation and the Future of Learning

Innovation Quotes

Here are some quotes on Innovation:

"Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things." Theodore Levitt

"Always remember that someone, somewhere is making a product that will make your product obsolete." George Doriot

"You never change something by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." Buckminster Fuller

"Tomorrow's innovators will invest more in playing with prototypes, modeling marketplaces, and simulating scenarios because that will become the best way to create new value and profitability deliver it to customers. Innovative models inspire innovative behavior... The value of prototyping arises from how people behave around prototypes." Michael Schrage, Serious Play (2001)

"Teach Less, Learn More"

The Singapore Dept of Education has a mission to 'Teach less, learn more' and this was recently discussed in the Serious Games listserve. Serious games, if well designed, have the opportunity to play a role in this mission.