Collaborative Research: Measuring Information Content of the Artifacts of Early Design

这个合作研究项目的目的是测量早期设计中使用的不同工件的信息含量，无论设计是如何描述的，也要研究信息的增长，或减少不确定性，在工程设计的早期阶段。 设计中产生和使用各种类型的信息，每种信息都可以以不同的形式表达，例如图片、文本、符号或动画。 一个通用的设计表示正在开发中，任何类型的设计信息转换成一个中立的形式。 其次，正在创建度量标准，以基于这种中性表示来测量工件的信息内容，沿着工具来量化设计的信息内容。 在早期项目中开发的模型将用于通过实验测量不同设计中的信息如何减少设计不确定性来验证信息度量。 如果成功的话，这项研究将改变工程设计项目的控制和评估方法。 随着信息在决策中的可测量性，计算机工具和正式的方法可以被建立来衡量设计项目的进度，而不是今天使用的更间接的指标，如时间流逝或金钱花费。 这项研究将激发新的研究的理解和测量的“知识状态”的设计团队。通过有一种方法来衡量知识状态，它可以量化设计师的知识增益在整个设计项目，这可能会导致新的工具和方法来评估设计团队的能力，在项目之间保留和重用知识，并客观地评估学生设计团队的学习曲线。这项研究的结果将被整合到设计相关的课程在得克萨斯州州立大学和俄勒冈州州立大学，以提高学生的欣赏“做中学”，让他们更好地感受到工程设计决策的复杂性。

The objective of this collaborative research project is to measure the information content of different artifacts used in early design no matter how the design is described, and also to study the growth of information, or reduction of uncertainty, in the early stages of engineering design. Information of various types is produced and used in design, and each may be expressed in different forms, such as pictures, text, symbols, or animation. A general design representation is being developed to translate any type of design information into a neutral form. Second, metrics are being created to measure the information content of artifacts based on this neutral representation, along with tools to quantify the information content of designs. Models developed on an earlier project will be used to validate the information metrics by experimentally measuring how information within different designs, as measured by the metrics, can reduce design uncertainty. If successful, this research will transform the methods for control and evaluation of engineering design projects. With information measurable in the context of decisions, computer tools and formal methods could be built to measure the progress of design projects in terms of the information used and decisions made, rather than the more indirect metrics used today, such as time elapsed or money spent. This research will stimulate new research into the understanding and measurement of the "state of knowledge" of a design team. By having a way to measure knowledge state, it could be possible to quantify the designer's knowledge gain throughout a design project, which could lead to new tools and methods for evaluating a design team's capability in retaining and reusing knowledge between projects, and for objectively assessing the learning curves of student design teams. The findings of this research will be integrated into design-related courses at both Texas State University and Oregon State University in order to improve students' appreciation for "learning by doing" and give them a better feel for the complexity of decision-making in engineering design.