Augmented Reality for Multi - disciplinary Collaboration

During the past few years, people have started to consider using digital technologies to assist the multi-disciplinary work ( Sonnenwald, 2007; Mentzas & Bafoutsou, 2004; Bos & Zimmerman, 2007). Many design activities involve participants from different disciplines. Cross-disciplines require information sharing. Comprehension also becomes more complicated. Therefore the need of understanding the other disciplines has become more important. However, as the number of specialty areas increases, the languages that define each separate knowledge base become increasingly complicating. Hence, concepts and viewpoints that were once considered as part of a whole become detached. This phenomenon is typical of the development of tertiary education, especially within professional oriented courses, where disciplines and sub-disciplines have grown further away from each other and the ability to communicate with different disciplines has become increasingly scrappy. Although the combination of different discipline bases within the same school or department has been considered to some extent, many of them do not take the full advantages of the hybrid opportunities that are related to the work within cross-disciplines. Most time institutes or schools educate different disciplines’ students separately, therefore, students only can be taught to seek for single-source solutions. Hence, there is a need to establish the knowledge of cross-discipline in education. For example, in a typical construction project, there involves knowledge from several different domains. Architects design the building and coordinate the input of other specialists in the team. Land surveyors survey the property and structural engineers design and specify the structural components of a building including foundations, footings, posts, beams, wall systems, etc. Electrical engineers design the power, lighting and communication requirements of the building. Mechanical engineers design the heating, cooling and ventilation of the building. Hydraulics engineers are in charge of designing the water and sewerage requirements. Quantity surveyors are responsible for the cost estimation of the design. It is apparent that different disciplines need to have a common platform to communicate and collaborate together.