“Computational Civil Engineering - "Intersections" International Journal

“Computational Civil Engineering 2005”, International Symposium 39online, only faster and less gracefully. Going virtual is for most people a wrenchingexperience, both in adapting to new technologies and in adopting new behaviorsand working relationships... The steps that teams take to cope with their networknature – using collaborative technologies and designing flexible organizations – notonly compensate for capabilities lost, but also establish the basis for extraordinaryperformance” [4].5. AEC INFORMATIONThe evolution of IT has brought numerous changes to the AEC industry. Thepredominant approach to design and the construction process as a whole hasundergone a radical shift to a synthesis, overlapping professional expertise withtechnological advancements.IT was regarded as the main source of information in the Industrial Economy. Thepredominant approach to handling information was through its manipulation,analysis and ultimate utilization. In the Knowledge Economy information goesthrough the evolutionary process of becoming knowledge. “When working in thisdistributed, networked environment, we evolve this new world and our livesbecome inextricably enmeshed in the survival of our nets with all intended andunintended consequences of its evolution” [3]. In this context, the biggestchallenge becomes the effective utilization of this knowledge. Its impact ontechnology is profound and so powerful that it has fundamentally changed the waywe act and live. The market dynamics and the realities of our entire industryimpose additional challenges that need to be well managed, this is redounding uponeducation to. “Creating a competitive advantage and staying successfully in therace means working in environments replete with elements of unpredictability,increased tension and stress and a constant need to adapt” [3].Electronic information systems are prevalent in many fields and increasinglyaccessible due to the outspread of web-based communication. Aside many nationaland professional organizations, several building and construction portals areoffering product data catalogues, information about services and specific resourcesnowadays. In order to increase global and local market efficiency, there are moreand more initiatives involved in the development of data modeling andcommunication standards, enfolding many construction activities, from individualconception and fabrication to cooperative e-building and e-commerce.The advantages of electronic documents and data management systems overtraditional ones mostly based on paper support, as well as the efficiency ofelectronic specifications over textual ones are already well known, but it’s stilloffering new business opportunities. Finding and retrieving information throughthe Internet is considered almost a common sense today. This is why among so