Abstract

Online Studios for Effective Collaboration of Dispersed, Multidisciplinary Design Teams
Track: Geodesign
Authors: Kelleann Foster, David Goldberg

The practice of professional design and planning today increasingly demands teams to assemble from distributed locations and time zones. This challenges traditional strategies for team building and collaboration. To achieve synergy and foster creativity, teams are exploring the viability of both virtual meeting environments and ArcGIS Online's collaborative opportunities. These virtual environments and emerging cloud-based tools constitute the online studios.

A blended technology set of online tools for asynchronous and synchronous collaboration was explored to optimize the online studio experience and piloted in an academic setting. Students and practitioners of multiple disciplines engaged in virtual studios to process, analyze, and visualize spatial conditions in order to inform design decisions through team consensus. This presentation will discuss how the design process was adapted, as well as the strategy of how online studios can facilitate the next generation of virtual design teaming.