Information and communication design for multi-disciplinary multi-national education and research

Multi-disciplinary multi-national education and research in building architecture, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) can involve participants with different first languages and/or different preconceptions. Further, AECO education and research can involve uncertain and evolving situations and/or geographically dispersed interactions. As a result, generic methods for preparing and communicating information, such as business English and standard process charting techniques, may be insufficient to facilitate shared understanding among participants. This paper describes three cases of information and communication design in AECO education and research. These cases involved a variety of methods, including: concept mediation; the explicit representation of implicit context; and the development of a symbol system. At the time of the research, underlying issues and potential methods must be identified through labor-intensive and time-consuming survey research. It is argued that the formulation of simple checklists could make information gathering and communication design more feasible and viable for multidisciplinary multi-national AECO education and research.