Finding out what users want

1
Finding out what users want

• Articulation and Translation at the Library Help
  Desk
• We are dealing here, of course, with a very
  subtle problem - how one person tries to find out
  what another person wants to know, when the
  latter cannot describe the need precisely In
  this act one person tries to describe to another
  person, not something he knows, but rather
  something he doesnt know.
• Robert Taylor

2
The Broad Relevance of the Problem

• Help-giving in diverse contexts consists of
  people trying to describe something they do not
  know - e.g., just what materials that will
  satisfy a search for information, or just what
  sort of nuts and bolts are required to carry out
  a particular DIY task in the home, or just what
  that knocking sound on the car means, or just
  what makes the computer keep crashing - to people
  who may and often do know
• What help-seekers do not know is what a solution
  looks like, what it consists of, what would bring
  it about, etc.
• What help-givers do not know is what the problem
  is and what an appropriate solution might
  therefore look like
• Work at the library help desk sheds light on the
  collaborative work involved in identifying
  problems and working out solutions and draws
  attention to the primacy of articulation and
  translation work to the practical day-to-day
  achievement of giving help

3
Collaboration at the Help Desk

• Involves what librarians formally describe as
  filtering work
• Which consists of what Taylor describes as
  rather sophisticated methods of interrogating
  users
• Take a brief look at what those methods or
  work-practices consist of concretely - i.e., what
  they are as observable courses of practical
  action and practical reasoning
• Consider the implications of these practices for
  the development of remote help-giving systems

4
Filtering Work

• Eliciting and/or offering specifically-vague
  descriptions
• Sarah Could you tell us where market - what
  was it market intelligence?
• Lisa Yeah.
• Sarah Market intelligence
• Sylvia Marketing is C floor. (Points to OPAC
  located at help desk) Do you know how to use the
  screens?
• Lisa Yeah but
• Sylvia You need to find the classmark for the
  book.
• Market intelligence - vague in the sense that
  it covers many things, specific in the sense that
  the information need has something to do with
  marketing
• Specifically-vague descriptions circumscribe the
  search area and warrant further collaboration,
  which is concerned to articulate the connection
  between the search area (e.g. marketing) and
  the information requirement, which is (in part)
  in the users head

5
Articulating the Connection

• Working up preliminary information requirement
  categories
• Sylvia leaves the help desk, leads the two users
  (Lisa and Sarah) to a free OPAC terminal nearby
  and initiates a title search.
• Lisa Its not a book.
• Sarah Its like information, information about
  these particular products and services. Its
  called market intelligence and leisure
  intelligence et cetera et cetera.
• Sylvia And is that the name of
• Sarah Thats the name market intelligence and
  leisure intelligence. Its not a book as such.
  Its usually in the reference library.
• Sylvia Is, is it a serial?
• Lisa Yeah.
• Sylvia Its a serial. Sylvia initiates a
  serial search on OPAC
• Articulating the connection consists of
  formulating the information need in terms of
  categories that fit the library system e.g.,
  in terms of books, serials, journals,
  maps, tourist guides, and the rest
• These categories, in turn, enable help desk staff
  to translate the information requirement into
  technical terms of the system and to identify
  potential solutions

6
Translating the Information Requirement

• Working up more specific information
  requirement categories
• Sylvia Is it marketing intelligence and
  planning? Is that the one? - Sylvia points to an
  item on the OPAC retrieval list - T6, its a
  journal.
• Sarah No. Its not a journal.
• Sylvia Do you want to check at that and find
  the journal itself? Sylvia points to the items
  classmark on the OPAC screen
• Sarah Been there.
• Sylvia But have you actually looked at the
  classmark?
• Lisa Yes its not what Im looking for.
• Sylvia Right. But thats the title of the
  book youre looking for - marketing intelligence?
  
• Sarah Market intelligence, and its got a list
  of all the products and services - its basically
  a reference book - and it tells you about
  particular market products and services and what
  to look for.
• Sylvia Youve checked in the reference area?
• Lisa Well, no.
• Sylvia Right. Sylvia takes the users to the
  reference area, returning alone to the help desk
  some three or four minutes later.
• Staff What was it she wanted? What did she ask
  for?
• Sylvia Marketing intelligence, which is a joke.
  She didnt want that. I eventually got out of her
  that it was breweries, which weve got in the
  reference area.

7
Articulation and Translation Work

• Transforms a specifically-vague description
  (its market intelligence) into a preliminary
  information requirement category (its not a
  book, its a serial) and then into a more
  specific information requirement category (its
  not a journal, its in the reference area and,
  specifically, breweries)

8
A Phenomenon of Note

• Articulation and translation relies on the
  improvisational use of technology
• Improvisational not in the sense of a jazz
  ensemble (where each time through is a one off)
• Rather, in the sense that OPAC was not designed
  to support articulation and translation work
• Nevertheless, the use of OPAC for this work is
  routine, staff do it all the time, the
  technologys use is stable, recurrent, part and
  parcel of the day-to-day character of help-giving
  in the library

9
So What?

• Understanding the socio-technical interface -
  thats what weve been looking at how in details
  of work-practice, and methodically as a matter
  of routine, technical systems enter human
  interaction (and rely upon it)
• Supporting articulation and translation work -
  thats what seems to be generalisable about
  help-seeking and help-giving (moving from the
  vernacular to the technical)
• Designing for improvisational use thats an
  opportunity for design