Communication in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industry

The AEC industry has long been in need of effective modes of information exchange and knowledge sharing, but their practice in the industry is still far from satisfactory. Fundamentally, the industry lacks a culture of information and knowledge sharing. There are three major interlinked obstacles in the AEC industry: the fragmented nature of the AEC industry, the lack of formal and interoperable knowledge representation, the linear communication model in the industry. In order to effectively coordinate information and knowledge flow in the AEC industry, this book presented a framework for an information system – a Construction Information and Knowledge Protocol/Portal (CIKP) which integrates within it a publish/subscribe system, Semantic Web technology, and Social Web concepts. Our aim has been to break down linear communication through social involvement and encourage a culture of sharing, and in the end, the CIKP framework has been developed to specify desired services in communicating information and knowledge, applicable technical approaches and the functions required to satisfy the needs of a variety of service scenarios.