Projects

School of Architecture.

Host: William Porter. Design inquiry. http://dcg.mit.edu

Project

E-WALL— A computational framework for human decision making PIs: William Porter, Patrick Winston. Researchers: Paul Keel, Matthew Sither; Consultants: Edith Ackermann, Jeffrey Huang. Sponsors and Collaborators: ONR, SPAWAR, NAVAIR, NPS, Saab Aerospace. Visit website: http://ewall.mit.edu/ EWall introduces a computational framework for the formation of ideas in a collective brainstorming process. EWall is a web-based environment that allows users to collect, organize and view graphical and contextual information. It introduces new methodologies for brainstorming, supports the negotiation process among multiple users and provides mechanisms to arrange data in various ways. The objective is to reduce the necessary amount of verbal communication during a brainstorming process in order to improve efficiency, allow more people to collaborate and encourage asynchronous and remote participation. My role: I identify the psychological mechanisms, socio-relational processes, and situational constraints that shape the ways humans collaborate. I gauge E-Wall’s affordances, or potential to help individuals and teams build on each other’s contributions, leverage their process, and better their outcomes.