Management of repair in human-computer interaction

This article reports an investigation of the initiation and management of repair in human-computer interaction from a conversation-analytic perspective. It describes some ways in which pairs of novice users deal with what they see as "trouble" in the operation of a multiwindow database system called Sales and Marketing Information (SAMi). A typical sequence has the character of a user request followed by a pause or computer granting, leading to user repair in initial or third position. Three components of repair are identified: The user attempts to get the computer to undo a previous granting, redo a previous request, or grant a new request. Some common ways in which these components are combined, ordered, and performed are illustrated with reference to transcripts of actual sequences of recorded interaction. The relevance of these findings for design is discussed, together with the future potential of the approach that generated them.

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