THE ROLE OF COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE IN DESIGN A protocol study of online design communication

Web-enabled collective intelligence in design invites anyone to contribute to a design process through crowdsourcing. We use a protocol analysis method to analyse the forum data on a collective intelligence web site, studying communication among individuals who are motivated to participate in the design process. A protocol analysis allows us to compare collective intelligence in design to similar studies of individual and team design. Our analysis shows that a design process that includes collective intelligence shares processes of ideation and evaluation with individual and team design, and also includes a significant amount of social networking. Including collective intelligence in design can extend the typical design team to include potential users and amateur perspectives that direct the design to be more sensitive to users’ needs and social issues, and can serve a marketing purpose.