Unhelpful helpers: When scaffolding structures veil collaborative interactions

Abstract

Collaborative software tools are designed to support users in individual and group efforts to engage in complex tasks and/or to acquire and develop complex cognitive skills. The aim is to help users by alleviating or lessening the burden of complexity or even to hide or veil the complexity inherent in these tasks and skills [1, 3, 5, 6]. These embedded design structures act as scaffolds to provide support and laddering for users' attempts at climbing through, or mastering, skills and tool use [8]. Tools whose scaffolds and structures fail to support and/or mediate collaborative interactions and exchanges become "unhelpful helpers". Unhelpful helpers stifle, hinder, and sometimes inhibit the collaborative interactions they were designed to support. Through the use of both metaphysical and natural representations of scaffolding and collaborative interactions, we examine the emergence of unhelpful helping as a by-product, in particular, of the design of scaffolding in collaborative tools. We argue that collaborative tools should be designed with a realistic and deep understanding of the context and practices in which they will be used. Furthermore, we argue that special attention and care should be given to the design of scaffolding structures to ensure that they support and help collaborative interactions and exchanges in ways they were intended.