Third, we must determine how to present that information so that people can obtain and use the knowledge easily and naturally. To explore the question of what information people need, we have constructed a conceptual framework of the elements of workspace awareness. Table 1 shows these elements and corresponding questions that a participant might ask themselves during a shared activity. There are two primary mechanisms by which workspace awareness is maintained. The first is communication, either indirect or direct.
People can also communicate awareness information nonverbally, through gestures and body language.
The second mechanism is observation. People can gather awareness information by watching others work, or by noticing the effects of their actions. The exact information requirements can only be determined by conducting a task analysis. People are adaptable, and they can often make up for the lack of certain information, perhaps by communicating more, or simply by repairing conflicts instead of avoiding them. Awareness requirements change over the course of a shared task, and it may be impossible for a groupware system to ascertain the phase of the task.