research-article

Overhearing the crowd: an empirical examination of conversation reuse in a technical support community

Author:

Derek L. HansenAuthors Info & Claims

C&T '09: Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Communities and technologies

Pages 155 - 164

https://doi.org/10.1145/1556460.1556484

Published: 25 June 2009 Publication History

Abstract

This paper describes a mixed method, empirical analysis of conversation reuse in an online technical support community. I find that the same characteristics that make the conversation successful (its highly personal, immediate, and socially engaging nature) make reuse of the conversation problematic. The archived discussion and wiki are reused to satisfy an immediate need, while the ongoing conversation is reused to help learn the practice. Use of the discussion archive and wiki repository are compared, showing benefits of the decontextualized, distilled wiki content for reuse. Implications of the findings on the design of "reuser friendly" tools and strategies are discussed.

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Cited By

Agyemang F(2021)Examining the information seeking and sharing activities in a virtual community of librariansJournal of Librarianship and Information Science10.1177/09610006211037389(096100062110373)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2021
https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006211037389
Dania AGriffin L(2020)Using social network theory to explore a participatory action research collaboration through social mediaQualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health10.1080/2159676X.2020.1836506(1-18)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2020
https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2020.1836506
Tausczik YHuang X(2019)The Impact of Group Size on the Discovery of Hidden Profiles in Online Discussion GroupsACM Transactions on Social Computing10.1145/33597582:3(1-25)Online publication date: 14-Nov-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3359758
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Overhearing the crowd: an empirical examination of conversation reuse in a technical support community
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
    1. Collaborative and social computing systems and tools
      1. Asynchronous editors
    2. Collaborative and social computing theory, concepts and paradigms
      1. Computer supported cooperative work
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing and business
      1. Computer supported cooperative work

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cover image ACM Other conferences

C&T '09: Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Communities and technologies

June 2009

306 pages

ISBN:9781605587134

DOI:10.1145/1556460

General Chair:
John M. Carroll
College of Information Sciences and Technology, the Pennsylvania State University, USA

Copyright © 2009 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 25 June 2009

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C&T '09

C&T '09: Communities and Technologies

June 25 - 27, 2009

PA, University Park, USA

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Cited By

Agyemang F(2021)Examining the information seeking and sharing activities in a virtual community of librariansJournal of Librarianship and Information Science10.1177/09610006211037389(096100062110373)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2021
https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006211037389
Dania AGriffin L(2020)Using social network theory to explore a participatory action research collaboration through social mediaQualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health10.1080/2159676X.2020.1836506(1-18)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2020
https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2020.1836506
Tausczik YHuang X(2019)The Impact of Group Size on the Discovery of Hidden Profiles in Online Discussion GroupsACM Transactions on Social Computing10.1145/33597582:3(1-25)Online publication date: 14-Nov-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3359758
Li YHe XHu D(2016)Information seeking and sharing in virtual communities: A case study of chinese IT professionalsProceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/pra2.2015.14505201003052:1(1-10)Online publication date: 24-Feb-2016
https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2015.145052010030
Blake CSouden MAnderson CTwidale MJenifer E. S(2016)Online question answering practices to support healthcare data re‐useProceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/pra2.2015.145052010011652:1(1-4)Online publication date: 24-Feb-2016
https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2015.1450520100116
Blake CSouden MAnderson CTwidale MStelmack JGiven L(2015)Online question answering practices to support healthcare data re-useProceedings of the 78th ASIS&T Annual Meeting: Information Science with Impact: Research in and for the Community10.5555/2857070.2857186(1-4)Online publication date: 6-Nov-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2857070.2857186
Li YHe XHu DGiven L(2015)Information seeking and sharing in virtual communitiesProceedings of the 78th ASIS&T Annual Meeting: Information Science with Impact: Research in and for the Community10.5555/2857070.2857100(1-10)Online publication date: 6-Nov-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2857070.2857100
Bullard JHowison J(2015)Learning from Elitist JerksJournal of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/asi.2332766:11(2267-2276)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1002/asi.23327
Morgan JBouterse SWalls HStierch SBruckman ACounts SLampe CTerveen L(2013)Tea and sympathyProceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work10.1145/2441776.2441871(839-848)Online publication date: 23-Feb-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2441776.2441871
Singh VHolt L(2013)Online Technical SupportProceedings of the 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences10.1109/HICSS.2013.429(3187-3196)Online publication date: 7-Jan-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/HICSS.2013.429
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