Que Sera Sera - The Problem of the Future Perfect in Open and Cooperative Systems

When the pace of interaction with a task is too slow the user s execution evaluation loop is broken Feedback normally says what has happened However when the task is slow nothing has happened yet the interest shifts to what will have happened This poses two problems for the user Firstly recalling the appropriate context when a response eventually arrives Secondly maintaining the expectation that the response will come and when so that appropriate action can be taken if it fails to materialise The design question is how to support these activities of which the latter has received little emphasis to date