Consulting-Specifying Engineer - August 2008 - (Page 46) of the computer. Never before in history has there been a tool that is so empowering as to be integral to virtually every pursuit—research, design, correspondence, client communications, accounting, analysis, calculations, documentation, archiving, etc. The list goes on. Computers are not merely special-purpose tools, like electronic calculators. They are the medium by which everything happens. Engineering notebook, calendar, address book, handbook, library—everything is in the Internet-connected computer. Years ago, I tabulated a number of studies that measured what portion of an engineering professional’s day actually was spent engaged in design or drafting. All of the studies estimated that the figure was around 19%. In a 40-hour week, that is 7 hours, 36 minutes. That raised a question in my mind: What about the rest of their time? The answer is meetings, site visits, measurements, research, and writing reports. The computer, it turns out, has a lot to offer in the way of productivity increases for those activities, too. For one thing, how about computations? The electronic spreadsheet is a tool that brought about the personal computer revolution. The tipping point for PC sales occurred when the majority of computer buyers bought computers as an infrastructure to enable tools like VisiCalc, not to satisfy a hobby or a technical curiosity. Today, spreadsheets can do so much more that it is hard to imagine engineering without them. Presentations? Grade-school children learn to use PowerPoint and other tools today. It’s unthinkable for many people to have a meeting without a large-screen projector and nicely designed bullet points, as well as short movies and other presentation capabilities. How has e-mail changed the life of the engineer? All communications are now instantaneous. About 10 years ago I visited a large architectural firm in Melbourne, Australia. “How has technology affected your practice?” I asked one of the partners. “Well, while we’re excited about computers for design and mapping, the big change began with the fax machine,” he said. “Really?” I responded, a bit surprised. “Yes,” said the partner. “Before the fax, a client would call and say, ‘Send me that change I requested!’ We would assure the client it would be on the next FedEx truck; that usually gave us a few hours to work on it. “But when fax machines came in, the clients’ expectations changed accordingly. ‘I want it now!’ became their mantra—and we had to comply. E-mail was just a streamlining of this process.” Research and education Years ago, when my wife and I would debate the meaning of a word, we’d both rush to the big fat dictionaries to see who was right. Today, it would never occur to us to do that; we go to Google, Wikipedia, www.dictionary.com, and other web-based sources for our answers. Are the answers better? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. We are much more aware of the varying levels of trustworthiness of what we find on the Web than we ever were about the dictionary entries. But we are getting the benefits of pluralism and timeliness. New information is posted to the Web continually—and by different parties, interested and disinterested. Now our skills must be applied to verification and validation, to sorting the wheat from the chaff. Young engineers often cannot fathom what it was like to do research before the Web. Senior engineers, on the other hand, often distrust information coming from what they perceive as unproven sources. That is a conflict that needs to be resolved in every organization. BIM Building information modeling is finally becoming a reality on many projects. What is it? Simply the natural outcome of doing everything in the computer. Designs are created and modeled in CAD, material take-off occurs semi-automatically, communication with and among all the project participants—owner, design firm, contractor, subs—takes place within systems that can track all the details. This screenshot shows a typical view in BIM software. The author believes that the promise of BIM software “is enormous” and will characterize the AEC industry. Source: Design West This BIM rendering shows interfacing HVAC and structural systems. Source: Design West 46 Consulting-Specifying Engineer • AUGUST 2008 http://www.dictionary.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.