1. BIMStorm Community on LinkedIn – A Reboot
By Michael Bordenaro, Co-founder, BIM Education Co-op, A BIMStorm Agent
Dedicated to Robert Smith, PhD, PhD, who among MANY things, was a Co-founder of BIM Education Co-op, a good
friend and a guiding voice in the storm of building industry technology revolution.
BIMStorm has evolved dramatically in many ways. But it has remained consistent in its ability to provide
real-time, open data to Building Information Models on mobile computers in a light weight and
meaningful manner.
At the Build Boston architects’ conference In 2007, one person from the audience provided data to
Kimon Onuma as he sat on a panel of industry experts who did not understand what he was doing
during his 12-minute, interactive demonstration of BIMStorm processes.
At Build Boston in 2008, a person walked through a huge banquet hall collecting pieces of paper with a
building name, square footage and number of stories from audience members. The papers were
brought to Susan Mitchell Onuma, who entered the information into the Cloud. ONUMA, Inc. staff in
California “landed” the resulting models in and around downtown Boston on Google Earth in real time.
Highrises popped up on the screen in front of hundreds of attendees. (See images below.)
2. This year, 2014, Kimon and Susan conducted a BIMStorm at the American Institute of Architects
National Convention in Chicago. (See pre-event introduction at http://vimeo.com/98188451)
With a strong Internet connection and an audience using a new generation of phones, more than 20
people entered a room name, room type and square footage into a community college building
model in less than 60 seconds. More than 60 people entered the information in less than 5 minutes.
3. Aris Onuma, the son of Kimon and Susan, and the staff of ONUMA, Inc. entered their data from remote
locations.
During the related presentations by Renée Tietjen, AIA and John Roach, Kimon rearranged the rooms in
a template education facility being used as an example of what is being done for the Department of
Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense Military Health System.
It doesn’t get much more real time than this.
This is a measurable productivity improvement in BIMStorm presentations. And it is another
demonstration of how proven consensus decision making can instantly improve building industry
processes.
The only question that remains is – How can you improve your work by having real time input from
many people?
Almost any building owner will be open to the savings available when multiple stakeholders enter data
in real time to facility projects of any size or type.
ONUMA, Inc. has directly focused the power of BIMStorm benefits on government owners (which
means all of us). There has been a specific focus on building owners who serve the United States of
America, state governments and local municipalities.
4. Right now, there is a highly pointed “BIMStorming” of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the US
Department of Defense Military Health System. The use of BIMStorm processes and approaches are
bringing transparency to Veterans’ health care at a time when medical service to those who served us
desperately needs improvement.
So today, July 4, 2014, is a fortuitous day to restart the BIMStorm Community on LinkedIn.
Kimon has agreed to be interviewed for an upcoming post and to provide a post or two. Award winning
BIMStorm veteran Russ Sanders, AIA from Orcutt Winslow, has agreed to share his real-time use of
multiple BIM programs on an iPad at construction sites. We will be seeking interviews from past, current
and future BIMStorm participants. We will work with associations and groups more closely to show how
the open data sharing heart of BIMStorm can transfuse existing entities looking to bring Information Age
benefits to the building industry. And we will be running this Linked In Group more like an electronic
BIMStorm Magazine with calendar piece, guest editorials, feature stories and news.
Today is also good day to restarting the BIMStorm Community on LinkedIn because Kimon created a
Declaration of Information Independence in 2009.
We still need our building information available freely for sharing among all stakeholders using any
program or data sharing method. We still need to bring the cost saving web processes enjoyed by other
industries into the building industry. We still need to break free from Industrial Age processes focused
on hierarchy and embrace Information Age processes based on fast data sharing that provides the
greatest benefit.
So it is highly appropriate to reload the BIMStorm Community on LinkedIn on the Fourth of July, 2014
Happy Independence Day to all who serve their country in any way, to all who live in the country and to
all of those around it.
I look forward to your comments, questions and discussions beyond any one person’s control.