Une étude clinique de la conception collaborative : la conception d'un artefact

International audienceBased on an approach that incorporates the fundamentally situated and distributed dimensions into the design of a mechanical device, we propose to reflect upon the concurrent organisation of this activity. An analysis of the conversational interaction, whose basic flow is outlined here, brought out two points. Firstly, it became clear that, right from the beginning of the design process, a high priority must be placed on arranging situations where all concerned actors are present and can work together on the product being designed. Secondly, the critical role of the artefacts produced and manipulated in this dynamic design process must not be overlooked. Our claim that there is an urgent need for ‘concurrent engineering' is more far-reaching than might appear at first sight. We show this to be true by means of a fine-grained analysis that enabled us to account for the sequence of actions carried out by a group of designers, from the dual standpoint of the language they used and the objects they manipulated. <br />In this framework, we present a particular work session during which five persons do collaborate to design a mechanical device which should keep planks in position on a machine tool. These actors are engineers who have differentiated competences in the subject. More precisely, we focus on a sequence of drawings and we show that the emerging solution is based on an integration (in both cognitive and social senses) of the points of view and skills of the five actors. Furthermore, we particularly focus on the role of the drawings which are produced during this emergence, since we claim that the study of the collaborative design of a product must take into account the analysis of the so-called intermediary objects which shape, with the discursive production, the joint cognitive activity of design. For example, we show the role of an gap between a conceptual representation of a solution and a micro-gesture. This gap leads to an irreversibility which results in an important decision in the design process.<br />Finally, we claim that this sort of work session analysis and the perspectives it leads to can be the bases of a clinical research program on the activity of collaborative design.Une analyse des interactions ayant cours lors d'une activité de conception collaborative d'un produit doit être à même de nous renseigner sur cette activité. C'est sur ce postulat que nous nous appuyons pour mettre à jour les processus cognitifs, sociaux et instrumentaux à l'œuvre lors d'une séance de travail au cours de laquelle cinq individus représentant les phases fonctionnelles, structurelles et de fabrication ont conçu collaborativement un dispositif mécanique pour l'industrie du bois. C'est plus précisément sur une série de dessins que nous focalisons notre attention, montrant alors que l'émergence de la solution de principe renvoie à une véritable intégration des points de vue et compétences de chacun. Il semble alors fondamental de souligner que l'étude de la conception collaborative de produits ne peut faire l'économie de l'analyse des “objets intermédiaires” produits et manipulés en situation. L'analyse de cette situation particulière et les perspectives qu'elle nous ouvre sont alors l'occasion d'ouvrir un programme de recherche clinique sur l'activité de conception collaborative