Diverse information fragments to enhance troubleshooting efficiency

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel system that displays diverse information fragments to enhance troubleshooting efficiency. We focus on supporting the technicians performing on-site network troubleshooting by developing a knowledge management system. Most prior work assumes that the professional technicians know the precise terms suitable for accessing keyword-based search systems. A six day ethnographic study and a laboratory experiment find that keyword-based search is not efficient for supporting on-site network troubleshooting. We derive three design requirements from these studies, (1)Display diverse information fragments for divergent thinking, (2)Support of veering between causes and symptoms to stimulate convergent thinking and (3)Navigation system for getting information quickly. A prototype based on these design requirements is created. We believe this research can be used to troubleshoot other complex systems similar to networks where there are many components that must be coordinated.