Abstract:

INTRODUCTION
To explore the opportunities of Web 2.0 and 3.0 for industrial design engineers, we set up an experiment. Design students had to find a web based design tool through collaborative search, apply the tool on one of their own designs and write an article on a wiki to share their experiences with the design tool. This paper will describe this experiment and the results.
A web based design tool is software combined with knowledge contents available on the web that somehow helps a designer in his design activities. An example of a web-based design tool is the Snap-fit Design calculator of BASF. With this tool one can create its own snap fit designs based upon 5 snap types.
Search 2.0 is actually the application of third generation search technologies. Third-generation search technologies bring into the equation user preferences, collaboration, collective intelligence, a rich user experience, and many other specialized capabilities that make information more productive. Examples are Swicki and Clusty
A wiki is an open content repository and can be used as a design tool in several ways. One example is the use of wiki as a communication and documentation tool for distributed design teams. WikID is a wiki that aims to be a design tool by offering information in a compact manner tailored to industrial design engineers (IDE).
For such a repository, the knowledge structure is possibly the most important aspect as this sets it apart from the informal sharing. The structure should provide an entrance to the knowledge domain that is appropriate for the search strategies of the user group. The basic structure that is currently in use on WikID divides IDE knowledge into five main categories: Design theories; Design aspects; Product domains; Design competences; Design thinking.

METHOD
The objective of the experiment is threefold (1) to evaluate the value of a collaborative search, (2) to collect, select, use and review a number of web-based design tools, and (3) to share experiences for industrial design engineers with the web based design tools on a wiki.
Some fifty pairs of students took part in the experiment. They had to find a web based design tool through a collaborative search, using either the collaborative search engine Swicki, or the metasearch engine BestSearch in a collaborative way. Then they had to apply the tool on one of their own designs and write an article on a wiki to share the design tools and their experiences. For the sharing part WikID has been used. Being experts in design engineering, also the web 3.0 approach has been applied in enriching the available tools with expert reviews.

RESULTS
Some 60 web based design tools have been found, applied, evaluated and described. To make the founded tools better available in WikID they have been classified in ten categories, such as Construction; Sustainability; Financial; and more. Combined tools can be linked to from multiple categories. A number of tools will be described and evaluated in the paper.

CONCLUSIONS
In a web 2.0 exercise, students have learned to find and evaluate a web based design tool. And they have learned how to share their knowledge through an open content repository. Together they have created design tools collection in this repository. Besides they have presented their experiences with the design tools to each other to get direct feedback on the tools, applications and articles of their fellow students.

Keywords:

Industrial Design Engineering, Design Tools, Design knowledge, Knowledge sharing, knowledge construction, Web-based, D Web 2.0, Design Wiki’s, WikID, Search too.