ABSTRACT
Working with computer-based media is different to working with pen and paper, paint, models or the like, and design practice is bound to change as practitioners learn to deal with both its limitations and possibilities. Computer systems that support team communication and collaboration are usually called Computer-Supported Co-operative Work, or Groupware systems. Computer and electronically mediated communication was used in the DesignNet project to enable multi-disciplinary, transnational students groups separated by distance to work together on a shared design project in order to produce an agreed outcome. The DesignNet project was partly funded by the Commission of the European Community’s Task Force for Human Resources, Education, Training and Youth, as part of the preparatory phase of the Arts Education and Training Initiative. Art and Design is generally taught as an individualistic activity and group work is not the normal mode of working, neither is distance communication.
