Abstract

The meaning of context with respect to computational systems has been the focus of considerable discussion specifically as related to context aware and proactive computing. However, there are no reports of people's direct, experiential understanding of the "lived experience" of context. As a result, there is a significant gap between theoretical approaches for understanding context and the actual practice of context, which is critical for the specification of systems. This paper reports the results of an ethnographic case study that illuminates the practical nature of context and highlights specific challenges for ubiquitous computing systems in general. We conclude that context is simultaneously more subtle, fluid and idiosyncratic than previously reported under theoretical approaches to understanding context. We further suggest implications for the design of computing systems based on these findings.