@article{Lafreniere_Bunt_Lount_Terry_2021, title={Understanding the Roles and Uses of Web Tutorials}, volume={7}, url={https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/14413}, DOI={10.1609/icwsm.v7i1.14413}, abstractNote={ <p> In this paper we identify roles and uses of web-based tutorials through an examination of tutorials’ comments sections. Through this analytical lens, we find that web tutorials serve a variety of needs, providing: <em>in-task help</em> for users with an immediate, specific goal to accomplish; a means for users to proactively <em>expand their repertoire of skills</em>; and an opportunity for novices to <em>shadow and experience an expert’s work practices</em>. We also find a number of emergent practices in tutorial comments. Users post <em>“help-me” stack traces,</em> a type of comment useful for debugging tutorial content; use comments sections as <em>opportunistic support forums</em>; and turn to comments sections for <em>social and technical validation</em> of their personal skill sets. Collectively, these findings enrich existing perspectives on web-based tutorials and argue for new mechanisms to support these various use cases. </p> }, number={1}, journal={Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media}, author={Lafreniere, Ben and Bunt, Andrea and Lount, Matthew and Terry, Michael}, year={2021}, month={Aug.}, pages={303-310} }