Kodin-Kfz - A Collaborative Diagnosis Network

Julia Finken, Dennis Krannich, Benjamin Tannert University of Bremen

Dimeb – Digital Media in Education, TZI – Technologie-Zentrum Informatik und Informationstechnik Bremen, Germany

{jfinken, krannich, btannert}@tzi.de

Abstract—In this paper we present the ongoing research project Kodin-Kfz. Kodin-Kfz is the abbreviation for “Kollaboratives Diagnosenetzwerk für die Kfz-Servicearbeit” (Collaborative Diagnosis Network for Car Services). The main objective of this project is to connect motor mechanics within an internet-based community to collaboratively solve technical problems in a diagnostic context that could not be solved with traditional menu-guided diagnosis routines.

Keywords-component; collaborative; web 2.0; usability; participatory design; community;

I. INTRODUCTION Today, working in car services and repair workshops in the

context of trouble-shooting is in large part based upon using computer-assisted diagnostic routines. These applications are mainly menu-guided, which means, "they propose test steps or automatically carry through the analysis of system data" [2]. Alongside this guided process, there is only very little space left for the motor mechanics to bring in their own knowledge. The difficulty is that there are many electronic errors that cannot be found with these menu-guided routines. Also these routines do not cope with all possible fields of errors. Therefore, the motor mechanics need to have additional ways to solve the remaining problems.

Another point that needs to be considered is the technical

diversity of problems. For example, motor mechanics need to have a broad variety of expert knowledge about problems, their reasons, and their potential solutions. Kodin-Kfz offers a possibility to handle and spread this expert knowledge in an easily available way in order to develop additional trouble-shooting methods.

In the platform of Kodin-Kfz the motor mechanics can

create new diagnostic problems. They can use the application to import additional information like diagnosis log files from the diagnosis tester in the workshops or take screenshots of the displayed content, for example, of measurements, of these tester. This information (e.g., screenshots, audio files, diagnosis log files, etc.) can be attached to new as well as existing problems. The community of motor mechanics tries to find possible solutions for the given problems collaboratively.

Furthermore, the author of an article can provide additional technical information for or change the content of this article. If a given problem is solved, the author can mark it accordingly.

Since Kodin-Kfz is mainly a Web-based application (it

consists of two applications, a web-based one and a client software that is installed on the diagnosis tester, offering a selection of the functionalities of the web-application), it is not only available in workshops, but also at home.

This paper gives a short overview about the collaborative

approach of Kodin-Kfz and its underlying principles.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Web 2.0 One of the main changes that were brought by the Web 2.0

approach is the altered role model of the user of an application. Instead of being a plain consumer of the content, now the role consists of a mixture of being consumer and producer. By this, every user of an application, e.g., Wikipedia, could be involved in creating the content of this application [5]. This has the advantage of a stronger personal binding of the user to the product. It also includes that the content of an application is produced collaboratively by its users and not given by unknown strangers. Hence, the connection between the users becomes more intense, too. Therefore, using Web 2.0 technologies supports the collaborative aspect of Kodin-Kfz, which aims to connect its users in a personal way to motivate them to collaboratively solve problems and learn from the developed solutions.

B. Usability The definition of the usability of a system could be done

under different aspects and includes multiple components like effectiveness, efficiency or satisfaction [4][7]. To try to cope with these aspects, one main challenge of the implementation of Kodin-Kfz is the time needed to interact with it. Kodin-Kfz should mostly be used during the working hours of the motor mechanics. That means that the use of it has to be integrated in the normal workflow, which includes that there is not much time to use it in an excessive way. All operations during the

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interaction with the platform must therefore be able to be done in a few minutes. For this, the concept and the structure of the single sites and tasks of the web application must be easy to understand and to handle. On the other side, the design and the layout of the platform still needs to be attractive and inviting and must not deter the target group from using the platform.

According to the integration in the normal workflow, the

positioning of the client software needs to be considered as well. Since the client should be installed on the diagnosis tester in the repair workshops, it needs to be positioned freely by the user. Otherwise it might hide important components of the diagnosis-software and therefore constricts the workflow instead of supporting it.

C. Participatory Design Another approach to produce a stronger personal binding

of the users to an application is followed in using participatory design. The main point of this approach is to integrate the future users in the planning and development of an application, because they know best what they need for performing tasks and interacting with the application [1][6]. Some proper methods for this are [3]:

• contextual inquiry

• focus groups

• prototyping

• usability-testing

With regard to the usability of Kodin-Kfz, the participatory

design becomes very important. As said above, the use of the application is highly time-critical. Using the knowledge and behavioral routines of the future users in dealing with diagnosis problems to design the application will help a lot in dealing with this problem and getting a better performance.

III. THE IDEA OF KODIN Kodin-Kfz is an ongoing research project, which aims to

overcome the disconnection of motor mechanics from different workshops with the help of an internet-based community. The intention is that problems could not only be solved with the help of co-workers in one workshop but collaboratively with all the skilled workers in the community. Thereby it is possible to avoid the problem of only being personally connected to a small selection of the overall community of experts and by this just being able to share the knowledge of this small community. The more people are asked for help, the greater is the chance that someone knows about the given problem and can assist with helpful solutions.

A. The system of Kodin-Kfz The implementation of Kodin-Kfz includes a web-

application, accessible via a web browser, and a client software, which will be installed on the diagnosis tester in the workshops. Both components are connected to a database in

which the content of the system is saved. Fig. 1 shows the structure of the system and the connection between the single components.

The web-application (Web-Portal) is the core component

of Kodin-Kfz. It offers the users the possibility to ask for help for their own problems by creating a new article in the platform. It also gives the opportunity to actively search in the database for similar problems and possible solutions. To make these processes more successful and to grant faster access every problem can be provided with a variety of technical details of a car – e.g., brand, model, type, year of manufacture, system and subsystem - and additional information like occurrence, weight or speed dependencies or influence of the weather. While searching the database, the users can select a variable assortment of these details to filter the queries and thereby get only problems that are related to their own issues. This is an important feature of the system according to the time-critical aspect mentioned before.

Another important point is the possibility to mark an

article as solved. After finding a solution for the given problem, the author of an article is asked to select the approach that contains the answer to this issue. This can either be an answer given by another user of the system or an answer added by the author himself. Marking articles as solved has some advantages for all users in the community. According to the time-critical aspect, it is possible to filter the list of search results by the status of the articles and thereby get only solved problems as outcome. Every user can easily see the status of a given problem as well as the status of own problems. This could be helpful to keep track of the state of all own articles.

Figure 1. Structure of Kodin-Kfz

The client software (PC-Client) offers fast access to the web-application and an additional connection from the diagnosis tester to the community platform. Its functionality includes a short overview of all made inquiries of a user in the platform as well as an overview of the newest problems in general. Via a notification system (e.g., mail or sound notice) the logged-in user will be informed if there are new answers for his issues. This is a great advantage according to the time-critical aspect, because a user does not have to login into the Web-Portal to get to know if someone has answered to a question, but instead will get a notification via the PC-Client, automatically.

By selecting one of the presented problems, the user will

be forwarded to the detail view of the problem in the Web-Portal, where he will be able to interact with the platform by e.g., reading new answers, trying and responding to offered solutions or giving a new answer himself for a problem of another user.

The PC-Client could also be used to make screenshots of the current state of the diagnosis surface or to upload diagnosis log files.

B. Spreading knowledge and learning The approach of Kodin-Kfz has the advantage of spreading

expert knowledge within the community, which will make it a knowledge base of solved diagnosis problems. Every user in the community can benefit from this collaboratively build knowledge base by reading and learning about different solutions. As said before, motor mechanics need to have a broad variety of expert knowledge. In the typical workflow there is not much time to learn new things and thereby expand this knowledge. By interacting with Kodin-Kfz, this process could happen sort of along the way. While searching for solutions or giving answers to the problems of other members of the community, a user necessarily has to deal with the given information. In this way every user can learn from the overall knowledge of the community. As the Web-Portal of Kodin-Kfz can be used at home, it also offers the opportunity to delve into problems without pressure of time.

Another feature of Kodin-Kfz that is important in

supporting the learning aspect is an optional discussion belonging to a single problem, which will be located below the actual problem debate. With this kind of discussion the platform offers the users the possibility to immerse themselves into the given articles and suggested solutions in a more technical and extensive way. If a user wants to know more about a specific solution or wants to give additional details to one of his own proposals that will go beyond the scope of a typical proposal for a solution, he can post it in this discussion instead of in the real problem debate.

C. Profits Beyond the enhanced connection of the community of

experts, a further aim of Kodin-Kfz is to standardize the collaboratively found solutions of the community into official diagnosis routines, which will be applied to the existing menu-guided routines. This will lead to a constant optimization of the overall workflow of a diagnosis.

In the end, it is expected that the use of Kodin-Kfz will lead

to an optimized diagnostic process including learning within the working context and disseminated expertise throughout the community.

IV. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK Kodin-Kfz has a high potential for overcoming the above-

named problems like connecting experts, learning within the working context and optimizing the diagnosis process in car services by offering the motor mechanics an opportunity to work and learn collaboratively. The major challenge will be to develop the application in a nice looking, easy-to-use and therefore user attractive way. This includes especially that the amount of time needed for dealing with the system has to be as small as possible. For this, the given information has to be prepared and displayed in a user-friendly way. This means, that the motor mechanics get all necessary details at once logically arranged so that they must not search for information throughout the website. To achieve this, a well thought website structure and interaction concept is indispensable. Hence, it would be necessary to let the future users participate in the development of the platform via methods of participatory design.

V. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This research is funded by BMBF – Bildungsministerium

für Bildung und Forschung. Our project partners are LUX Personal & Kommunikation, Berufsbildungsinstitut Arbeit und Technik (biat), Institut Technik und Bildung (IT+B), Institut für Theoretische Elektrotechnik und Mikroelektronik (ITEM) and Volkswagen Service Deutschland (VDS).

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[6] Schuler, D. and Namioka, A. 1993. Participatory Design: Principles and Practices. Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates

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