Time in specifications : what exactly are we trying to specify?

It is generally accepted that the specification of time can be a difficult goal to achieve. Much of the research in this area has concentrated on new methods which allow for the specification of time. However, little attention has been concentrated on the concept of time in specifications, and in that order to fully address the problem of specifying time we need to have a clearer idea of what we are trying to do. This paper attempts to fill that gap, and aims to discover what we are trying to achieve through the inclusion of time in a specification. It goes on to consider the role of representations of time in the area of human computer interaction and considers what is required of such representations in HCI.