Volume II. Tacit and Explicit Understanding

"INTERPRETATION IN DESIGN: THE PROBLEM OF TACIT AND EXPLICIT UNDERSTANDING IN COMPUTER SUPPORT OF COOPERATIVE DESIGN"
Gerry Stahl, PhD dissertation in Computer Science, University of Colorado, August 1993

This work analyzes the central role of interpretation in non-routine design. Based on this analysis, a theory of computer support for interpretation in cooperative design is constructed. The theory is grounded in studies of design and interpretation. It is illustrated by mechanisms provided by a software substrate for computer-based design environments, applied to a sample task of lunar habitat design.
Computer support of innovative design must overcome the problem that designers necessarily make extensive use of situated tacit understanding while computers can only store and display explicit representations of information. The automation techniques used for routine design are not applicable: techniques are needed to support creative, tacit human understanding with explicit computer representations.
The process by which designers transform their tacit pre-understanding into explicit knowledge is termed “interpretation”. Interpretation is necessary for solving design problems and collaborating with other designers. Considerable explicit knowledge is thereby generated in the natural course of designing. Often this knowledge includes the most valuable information that can be presented to designers who revisit these design projects or undertake similar projects in the future. If representations of this knowledge have been defined using computer-based design support systems, then the representations can be captured by these systems for the support of subsequent design work.

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