Open Source Technical Support: A Look at Peer Help-Giving

We explore online technical support of open source software by a study of postings to discussion boards. Our results indicate that there are several types of detail that are required by the help-givers to be able to diagnose and remediate help-seekers’ difficulties. As a result help interactions may iterate somewhat inefficiently. These findings are compared with studies of telephone technical help lines for commercial software, and library reference interviews. By considering certain rather problematic interactions we can identify ways to improve the process.