Abstract
In large organizations, people often take part in processes in which they have no prior experience. In such situations a common problem is figuring out how to begin, and a common solution is the simple expedient of talking to others who have more expertise. However, in large distributed organizations, this expedient is often not so simple. In this chapter, we describe two applications—Babble, and its Web-based successor, Loops—which people have turned to this end. We discuss the design of the systems, with particular attention to the ways in which they make people and their activities visible and thus available to one another, and illustrate how people make use of this availability in seeking expertise. We conclude with a discussion of the ways in which the functionality of such systems can aid people in drawing upon one another for assistance and expertise.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ackerman MS, Pipek V, Wulf V (2003) Sharing Expertise: Beyond Knowledge Management. MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
Bradner E, Kellogg WA, Erickson T (1999) The adoption and use of Babble: A field study of chat in the workplace. In Bødker S, Kyng M, Schmidt K (eds.) Proceedings of the Sixth European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 139–158.
Cherny L (1999) Conversation and Community: Chat in a Virtual World. CSLI Publications, Stanford, CA.
Erickson T, Kellogg WA (2000) Social translucence: An approach to designing systems that mesh with social processes. Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 7(1): 59–83.
Erickson T, Kellogg WA (2003) Social translucence: Using minimalist visualizations of social activity to support collective interaction. In Höök K., Benyon D, Munro A (eds.) Designing Information Spaces: The Social Navigation Approach. Springer, London, pp. 17–42.
Erickson T, Smith DN, Kellogg WA, Laff, MR, Richards JT, Bradner E. (1999) Socially translucent systems: Social proxies, persistent conversation, and the design of “Babble.” In Williams MG, Altom MW, Ehrlich K, Newman W (eds.) Human Factors in Computing Systems: The Proceedings of CHI 99. ACM Press, New York, pp. 72–79.
Goffman E (1963) Behavior in Public Places: Notes on the Social Organization of Gatherings. Macmillan, New York.
Granovetter MS (1983) The strength of weak ties: A network theory revisited. Sociological Theory 1: 201–233.
Hall ET (1983) The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time. Doubleday, New York.
Halverson CA, Erickson T, Sussman J (2003) What counts as success? Punctuated patterns of use in a persistent chat environment. In Schmidt K, Pendergast M, Tremaine M, Simone C (eds.) Proceedings of the 2003 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work. ACM Press, New York, pp. 180–189.
Jacobs J (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Random House, New York.
Kendon A (1990) Conducting Interaction: Patterns of Behavior in Focused Encounters. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Whyte WH (1988) City: Return to the Center. Anchor Books, New York.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag London Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Erickson, T., Halverson, C.A., Kellogg, W.A. (2008). Figuring Out How to Figure Out: Supporting Expertise Sharing in Online Systems. In: Resources, Co-Evolution and Artifacts. Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-901-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-901-9_4
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-84628-900-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-84628-901-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)