Thomas Erickson
Catalina M. Danis
Wendy A. Kellogg
ABSTRACT
Assistance - work carried out by one entity in support of another - is a concept of long-standing interest, both as a type of human work common in organizations and as a model of how computational systems might interact with humans. Surprisingly, the perhaps most paradigmatic form of assistance - the work of administrative assistants or secretaries - has received almost no attention. This paper reports on a study of assistants, and their principals and managers, laying out a model of their work, the skills and competencies they need to function effectively, and reflects on implications for the design of systems and organizations.
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Index Terms
- Assistance: the work practices of human administrative assistants and their implications for it and organizations
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