Time is a fundamental dimension of human experience. It is the medium through which relationships are built, trust is established, and agency is negotiated.

Rhythm

The beat-by-beat flow of interaction. This is where conversation happens.

• Turn-taking: The gap between user action and system response.
• Pacing: Is the interaction fast and efficient (e.g. using command menu) or slow and reflective (e.g. in a wizard or when adding annotations)?
• Latency: Both technical latency and intentional delay used to communicate “thinking”, “effort”, or to prevent overwhelming the user.

The session-level arc is covered by how interaction unfolds over time.

Lifecycle

The evolution of the user’s relationship with the system over days, weeks, or months.

• Orientation: Initial learning and discovery
• Incorporation: Efficiency and integration—shortcuts, reduced density, staying out of the way
• Identification: Expression and connection—customisation, personalisation

History

How the system handles the past, present, and future.

• Past: logs, undo, version history. The ability to “rewind” time. Annotations also serve as “wear”—visible traces of past attention.
• Present: The current state and focus.
• Future: Anticipation, prediction, and suggestion. Drafts, previews, and “what-if” spaces let people explore possible futures before committing—supporting play, learning, and confident decision-making.

Persistence

What survives the gap between one encounter and the next, and for how long. Nothing above can be rewound unless something was kept.

Two questions it raises:

1. What the kept thing is attached to — a session, an actor, an object
2. How long it lasts

Saving works out what a save is actually for; memory covers what the system holds about the actor; deletion covers what removal leaves behind.

Synchronicity

The temporal mode of interaction and collaboration.

• Synchronous: Real-time, simultaneous interaction requiring immediate response
• Asynchronous: Deferred interaction allowing considered responses across time
• Different tasks and collaboration modes require different temporal rhythms (see Collaboration)

Duration

How the system communicates time passing and progress.

• Progress: Showing advancement through tasks or processes
• Loading: Managing expectations during system operations

Resources

• Time and Temporality in HCI Research (Wiberg & Stolterman, 2021)
• User experience over time: an initial framework (Karapanos et al., 2009)
• Brenda Laurel (2013) Computers as Theatre, 2nd ed.