CHIC - a pluggable solution for community help in context

Online "Helps" must capture the problem of decontextualisation. In the literature the following three methods are presented to bridge the gap between the user\'s problem situation and the provided help: using methods of the information retrieval, computer mediated communication and techniques of context awareness.Focusing on professional help only is a drawback most help systems research have today. In order to overcome these shortcomings, this paper presents how the different help methods can be combined with the concepts of community based help systems by using Wikis. We will argue that the next big step is to integrate Wikis into the applications so that there is a more seamless transition between the use context and using the Wiki as a Help System.In order to prove our concept, we designed a CHiC (Community Help in Context) prototype based on Eclipse, and use it in a rich client for a Groupware-System.