TY - CONF T1 - The Zephyr Help Instance: Promoting Ongoing Activity in a CSCW System T2 - Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI"96) Y1 - 1996 A1 - Mark S. Ackerman A1 - Palen, Leysia KW - CMC KW - collaborative help KW - collective help KW - computer-mediated communications KW - e-communities KW - electronic social spaces KW - expertise sharing KW - help KW - knowledge sharing KW - media spaces KW - norms KW - organizational interfaces KW - social maintenance AB -

If Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) systems are to be successful over time, it will be necessary to promote ongoing and continuing activity, not just initial adoption. In this paper, we consider what technical and social affordances are required to encourage the continued use of a CSCW system. To explore these issues, we examine a chat-like system, the Zephyr Help Instance, which is used extensively at MIT. The Help Instance facilitates users asking questions of one another, and is an example of a distributed help and problem-solving system. We provide an overview of the system’s use as well as those mechanisms, both technical and social, that facilitate continuing its use over time.

JF - Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI"96) UR - Complete ER -