Journal:Advanced engineering informatics: Philosophical and methodological foundations with examples from civil and construction engineering
| Full article title |
Advanced engineering informatics: Philosophical and methodological foundations with examples from civil and construction engineering |
|---|---|
| Journal | Developments in the Built Environment |
| Author(s) | Hartmann, Timo; Trappey, Amy |
| Author affiliation(s) | Technische Universität Berlin, National Tsing Hua University |
| Primary contact | timo dot hartmann at tu-berlin dot de |
| Year published | 2020 |
| Volume and issue | 4 |
| Article # | 100020 |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.dibe.2020.100020 |
| ISSN | 2666-1659 |
| Distribution license | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
| Website | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666165920300168 |
| Download | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666165920300168/pdfft (PDF) |
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This article should be considered a work in progress and incomplete. Consider this article incomplete until this notice is removed. |
Abstract
We argue that the representation and formalization of complex engineering knowledge is the main aim of inquiries in the scientific field of advanced engineering informatics. We introduce ontology and logic as underlying methods to formalize knowledge. We also suggest that it is important to account for the purpose of engineers and the context they work in while representing and formalizing knowledge. Based on the concepts of ontology, logic, purpose, and context, we discuss different possible research methods and approaches that scholars can use to formalize complex engineering knowledge and to validate whether a specific formalization can support engineers with their complex tasks. On the grounds of this discussion, we suggest that research efforts in advanced engineering should be conducted in a bottom-up manner, closely involving engineering practitioners. We also suggest that researchers make use of social science methods while both eliciting knowledge to formalize and validating that formalized knowledge.
Keywords: advanced engineering informatics, knowledge formalization, knowledge engineering, computing in engineering, research method, engineering
Introduction: Attempting to define advanced engineering informatics
Engineers invent, design, analyze, build, test and maintain complex physical systems, structures, and materials to solve some of societies most urgent problems, but also to improve the quality of life of individuals. Engineering is artifact-centered and concerned with realizing physical products of all shapes, sizes, and functions. Engineers routinely use computers and engineering work is almost entirely digitized. Few tasks are conducted without some sort of digital support. Surprisingly still, some engineering disciplines, and in particular, civil engineers are termed (and term themselves) as digital laggards. Resistance to apply new digital technologies is high, and more often than not the real benefits of applying new digital technologies to support engineering design tasks is not perceived, visible, or existing.
The existing resistance towards adopting advanced computational tools has traditionally been attributed to individual and social characteristics of engineers themselves. For example, traditionally, studies focusing on the work of civil and construction engineers attributed resistance to the organizational characteristics of the industry, such as the seminal study of Mitropoulos and Tatum[1] about general industry characteristics, or the more recent study of Linderoth[2] looking at the specific collaboration network structure of the industry. Others like Davis and Songer[3] have attributed the resistance of engineers to adopt new technologies to individual characteristics of engineers, such as age, gender, general computer understanding, or experience.
Independent of resistance and its cause and despite the ever growing amount of digital applications that are used by engineers, it rather seems as if engineers are increasingly struggling with providing and improving our society’s complex engineering systems.[4] This, in particular, holds in relation to the engineering systems within our built environment. Little research has provided insights into how the characteristics of computational tools influenced adoptions. Those studies that did showed that there seems to be a large difference between the general expectations of the engineers with the support that the tools could truly provide.[5][6] This paradox of supporting today’s engineering work with adequate computational tools has triggered the engineering community to develop a new scientific field of study and inquiry: advanced engineering informatics.
References
- ↑ Mitropoulos, P.; Tatum, C.B. (2000). "Forces Driving Adoption of New Information Technologies". Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 126 (5): 340–8. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2000)126:5(340).
- ↑ Linderoth, H.C.J. (2010). "Understanding adoption and use of BIM as the creation of actor networks". Automation in Construction 19 (1): 66–72. doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2009.09.003.
- ↑ Davis, K.A.; Songer, A.D. (2009). "Resistance to IT Change in the AEC Industry: Are the Stereotypes True?". Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 135 (12): 1324-1333. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000108.
- ↑ de Weck, O.L.; Roos, D.; Magee, C.L. (2011). Engineering Systems: Meeting Human Needs in a Complex Technological World. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262016704.
- ↑ Hartmann, T.; van Meerveld, H.; Vossebeld, N. et al. (2012). "Aligning building information model tools and construction management methods". Automation in Construction 22 (1): 605–13. doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2011.12.011.
- ↑ Hartmann, T. (2011). "Goal and Process Alignment during the Implementation of Decision Support Systems by Project Teams". Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 137 (12): 1134–41. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000389.
Notes
This presentation is faithful to the original, with only a few minor changes to presentation. In some cases important information was missing from the references, and that information was added.
