Where am I and who am I?: issues in collaborative technical help

  • Authors:
  • Michael Twidale;Karen Ruhleder

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign;University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  • Venue:
  • CSCW '04 Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work
  • Year:
  • 2004

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

In a study of collaborative help-giving within several organizations settings, we identified two forms of trouble and bewilderment that we explore further in this paper. In one case, the user is confused about where they, their files, or other resources are within a larger technical infrastructure (Where am I?). In the second case, the user isn't sure which login is needed and which actions are allowed (Who am I?). We believe that these issues carry important implications for the design of interfaces that can explicitly support repair and problem-solving, and that they are essential to consider in the development of CSCW and ubiquitous computing applications.