Willemien Wisser
Research theme
Willemien Visser is a senior research scientist in INRIA's EIFFEL2-"Cognition & Cooperation in Design" research group. She has been studying design for more than 20 years, focusing on its dynamic, cognitive aspects. She comes from cognitive psychology where traditionally research is being conducted in artificially restricted conditions. Against this background, she has claimed the necessity to examine design in real, professional projects.
Her research concerns collaborative design and the development of methods for modeling and analysing this design activity. She focuses on the construction of representations--internal and external, private and jointly used (interdesigner compatible representations)--through various modes of interaction (verbal, graphical, gestural).
In addition to more than 60 research papers, Willemien Visser has published last year a book in which she presents her view of design from a cognitive perspective ( The Cognitive Artifacts of Designing . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates). In order to render the essential and specific qualities of design, she characterizes design as a construction of representations. The presentation of this position is preceded by a critical review of the research performed since some 30 years in the domain of cognitive design studies.
Video and experimental material
Videos : I am working on videodata of design meetings: I will ask the owners of the data if I can share/show them.