(Illustrated above) A financial trader knows that the pricing information in his trading application is updated continuously based on current market conditions. Their database of security names and symbols is less dynamic, updating every weeknight at 10 PM EST to reflect any changes announced during the previous trading day.

A scientist knows that her analysis application updates certain reference information about genetic sequences daily and that when she views details on a specific sequence, the information is pulled in real time from online databases, which are updated more sporadically.

An architect knows that all of the reference material about building regulations in her building modeling application was entered by her team at the start of the project. This content will not be updated unless someone on her team manually makes changes, which the application will then highlight as people work on related areas of the model.

What value do targeted individuals place on understanding the “freshness” of different types of information in the work practices that your team is striving to mediate?

What mental models and shared narratives do workers have about how the various types of information in their practices are currently updated?

How do workers assess the currency of certain types of information that they encounter in their efforts? What cues do they reference?

How can misunderstandings of information currency lead to errors? How do workers currently diagnose and recover from these errors?

How might the adoption of new computing options into targeted work practices create volumes of information where messaging about information currency could be useful or necessary?

When and where might messaging of information updates provide clarifying value in your team’s sketched functionality concepts?

What guiding conceptual models might your team envision to help clarify the process behind, and potential causes of, information updates?

What initial instruction could help instill these conceptual models in users as they adopt your computing tool? How might individual interactions around information currency also convey appropriate background?

How might your team’s design responses for communicating information currency relate to your error prevention and handling conventions? Your sketched approaches for supporting workspace awareness?

Do you have enough information to usefully answer these and other envisioning questions? What additional research, problem space models, and design concepting could valuably inform your team’s application envisioning efforts?