Use of concept maps and wikis for early engineering design and collaborative engineering

Concept Maps and wikis were examined as tools that compliment the engineering design process and better facilitate collaboration between geographically dispersed design teams. Concept maps are a visual knowledge capture medium that can be used to promote the understanding of the design problem and in providing an organizational reference for the entire project. Wikis are editable websites that give the users the freedom to add content in any manner, thus providing a project management platform for design teams. This thesis reports on five studies by the author in which concept maps and wikis are used as both tools for the design process as well as collaborative tools in various modes of interaction. Recommendations to improve concept maps and wiki technologies were determined based on the feedback from the participants in these studies. The wiki was used extensively as a project management tool but required some push for the participants to use. The hierarchical layout structure has been shown to be the favoured pattern by participants in the engineering field. Concept maps are also shown to be a clearer visualization tool than another accepted tool, Unified Modelling Language.