Dialog Mapping: Reflections on an Industrial Strength Case Study

Abstract

The case study reports on ten years of continuous usage of Dialog Mapping by a group of approximately 50 users in the Environmental Affairs division of Southern California Edison (SCE). More precisely, this group have been users of the QuestMapTM software system2, which is the software system underpinning Dialog Mapping. QuestMap provides some hypertext and groupware features which are quite powerful but are also can be difficult for new users to master. Such features often spell doom for the successful rollout of new collaboration technologies. The case study explores the some of the practical success factors for CSAV adoption as they apply to the case of the adoption and usage of QuestMap and Dialog Mapping at SCE.