For builders and building owners, the Internet provides the opportunity to gain control over vital information about facilities that has been hidden behind walls of incompatible data formats. Information can now more easily be captured, stored, and reused throughout a building’s life cycle.

And for architects, the Internet may be the means by which the profession reasserts a central place in the direction of projects by assuming an important new role—that of project information manager.

The explosive pace of Internet technology (and the more leisurely pace at which books are published) means that some of the material in this book may be out of date by the time it is published. Don’t worry: the buzzwords and acronyms may change, but the principles remain. Information technology should be empowering, not intimidating. This book is not about having the latest release of this, or the most megahertz of that; rather it is about recognizing new possibilities and harnessing the opportunities that this revolution in communication offers to everyone in the building enterprise.

This book will focus on concepts—ways that design and building professionals are using Internet technology to address some long-standing communication issues in our industry—as well as the tools and techniques you need to implement these ideas within your own firm. When glossary terms are first introduced, they are set in bold type. Up-to-date information will be available on the Communication and Design with the Internet Web site at www.communication-design.net.

It is anticipated that the readers of this book will have widely different degrees of previous experience with the Internet and computing and will come from all corners of the AEC industry. Some of you will already be familiar with many of the concepts discussed here, others will be learning them for the first time. Some of you will be managers charged with setting an Internet direction for your firm; others will be students wanting to learn new skills. In the process, you may be surprised to discover that creating Web sites, the core skill you need to participate in the connected world, is surprisingly easy and fun.

Feel free to read the book in any order you like. The nuts and bolts of getting connected, using Internet services, and building and managing Web sites is covered in chapters 2 through 6. In chapters 7 through 12, you will see how architects, planners, and builders are using these tools to deliver services and communicate with clients, collaborators, and the public in innovative ways that may challenge your notion of how getting on-line can help your firm succeed.