Figure 4.1: Different perceptions about BIM.

(Illustration by Author)

As the fable goes, after feeling a part of the elephant different from the

others, each of the blind men argued that their description of what they felt

(ranging from a rope, to a tree, etc.) was the right one.

The idea that has emerged from the results of the inquest on a definition of

BIM reveals two broad frameworks of perceptions of BIM – the perception

by part and the holistic (broad-picture) view. Therefore while the different

views of the respondents may be valid in their own rights and are reflective

of similar views in the literature, the common ground for most of the

opinions about BIM is that it aids collaboration. The implication is that if,

like the blind men’s individualistic descriptions, only certain aspects of BIM

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