RE: Web-Based Work

> I'm thinking about doing an experiment, using PipingDesign.com and
> you subscribers.

I've done some stuff along these lines with FEA for various clients. Getting data filers over the Internet is pretty simple and submitting finished documents is just as easy. It can be made platform independent, since there's a fair amount of interchangeability between CAD packages. The real problem is integration of basic design documents. Someone (a sort of prime contractor surrogate) will have to be in charge of putting all the pieces together and making sure that everything is complete and compliant. That in turn depends on careful planning of the work, since you can't just walk into the next office and go over drawings. A project like this would also require some facility for group meetings, via internet conferencing or something as simple as a chat room. E-mail works pretty well for conveying instructions and specific data items, but not for highly interactive discussions.

I think this is a neat idea, the only caveat being that the project be simple enough so that it doesn't interfere too much with real jobs. In answer to Otto Weiberth I'd think the purpose of this is to work out organizational and communications issues for doing engineering and design over the internet. It's a lot more than AutoCAD training, since piping design goes a lot farther than just CAD software.

Christopher Wright P.E.    |"They couldn't hit an elephant from
chrisw@skypoint.com        | this distance"   (last words of Gen.
___________________________| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania 1864)