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Making and Breaking Troubleshooting Logics: Diagnosis in Office Settings

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Abstract

Call centres — be they medical or technical — are increasingly used for diagnosis. They provide centralised points where customers can access help and advice about their problems. The call taker is remote from the problem and this introduces particular contingencies into the work such as how the call taker ensures adequate access to the problem in order to make a sufficient diagnosis for the purposes at hand. In this chapter I examine one particular type of remote diagnostic work; the troubleshooting of large printers and photocopiers from a customer call centre (the Welcome Centre).

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© 2010 Jacki O’Neill

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O’Neill, J. (2010). Making and Breaking Troubleshooting Logics: Diagnosis in Office Settings. In: Büscher, M., Goodwin, D., Mesman, J. (eds) Ethnographies of Diagnostic Work. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230296930_3

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