Editorial: context in context

Designing is an abstract activity. In designing, solutions must be derived in an environment where design requirements, methods and evaluation criteria are subject to frequent change. Consequently while designing, recognising something that makes something better or worse in relation to its context, is vital to achieve design solution [1]. The interrelationship shared by context and designing though acknowledged; understanding of the same has remained fuzzy yet. A theoretical interpretation of designing and context is a necessary precursor to develop such an understanding. While the literature in design domain is rich in discussions on designing the same is not the case with later. Although a great amount of deliberation on the notion of context exists in other domains of study, however, a comprehensive dialogue in relation to design is needed. This paper intends to address few aspects of this issue by providing a definition of context that is synthesised through a broad survey and argumentation.

2005

Although the notion of context has been studied by several disciplines such as pragmatics, natural language semantics, linguistics, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence, there is no standard concept, theory or model. This overview describes engineering, cognitive and sociological approaches to context. It encompasses theories, models and applications of this notion.

Journal of Literary Theory (JLT), 2014

Theories of meaning, even outspokenly textualist ones, have always dealt with the question of relevant context as well, to some extent at least. In many fields of research, the idea of an encompassing theory of context has surfaced now and then, and there have also been actual attempts at such a theory, some of which are discussed in this article. At the same time the very concept of context is difficult in many ways. The term has been said to be one of the most widely used and widely abused terms in the humanities and social sciences. Brenda Dervin claims that »there is no term that is more often used, less often defined, and when defined defined so variously as context« (Dervin 1997, 13-14). More specifically, its analytical force suffers from the fact that it encompasses such a vast array of different elements. The many concepts that clearly deal with the relationship between text and context, however in a more limited or specific way, are one proof of this.

Journal of Advanced Nursing

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The emergence of ubiquitous computing as a new design paradigm poses significant challenges for HCI and interaction design. Traditionally, human-computer interaction has taken place within a constrained and well-understood domain of experience -single users sitting at desks and interacting with conventionally-designed computers employing screens, keyboards and mice for interaction. New opportunities have engendered considerable interest in "context-aware computing" -computational systems that can sense and respond to aspects of the settings in which they are used. However, considerable confusion surrounds the notion of "context" -what it means, what it includes, and what role it plays in interactive systems. This paper suggests that the representational stance implied by conventional interpretations of "context" misinterprets the role of context in everyday human activity, and proposes an alternative model that suggests different directions for design.

Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 2004

The emergence of ubiquitous computing as a new design paradigm poses significant challenges for human-computer interaction (HCI) and interaction design. Traditionally, HCI has taken place within a constrained and well-understood domain of experience-single users sitting at desks and interacting with conventionally-designed computers employing screens, keyboards and mice for interaction. New opportunities have engendered considerable interest in ''context-aware computing''-computational systems that can sense and respond to aspects of the settings in which they are used. However, considerable confusion surrounds the notion of ''context''-what it means, what it includes and what role it plays in interactive systems. This paper suggests that the representational stance implied by conventional interpretations of ''context'' misinterprets the role of context in everyday human activity, and proposes an alternative model that suggests different directions for design.

International Journal of Law in Context, 2020

Any and every phenomenon that human beings can experience or observe or invent or imagine, except the aggregated sum total of all such phenomena, has context(s). In a current way of thinking, interaction between entity, organism or phenomenon and its 'context' or 'environment' (I will use these last two terms interchangeably) is the engine of evolution by natural selection, and of social change by language and communication, teaching and learning, remembering and recording. Identifying and understanding the aggregate, total context of any phenomenon is beyond human, physical and mental capacities. When we set out to understand the interaction between any particular phenomenon and its environment, we necessarily select a set of features of the total, aggregated context. The choice of a particular set of features will reflect our reasons for, and our interests and aims in, studying phenomenon/context interactions. To the extent that context is understood negatively as everything other than the phenomenon being studied, the choice of that phenomenon will also reflect the observer's reasons, interests and aims. There are various methods of studying interactions between phenomena and environments. Oneand in some sense, the paradigmmethod is the controlled, scientific experiment. The strength of this method is that it involves and depends on precise delineation of a phenomenon and precise specification of one or more features of its environment, in such a way as to allow the phenomenon to be effectively isolated from other contemporaneously existing phenomena, and the environmental features to be effectively isolated from other contemporaneous environmental features. This procedure enables the observer, of past and present interactions between the chosen phenomenon and its specified environment, to describe and explain those interactions in a way that others will find convincing and to make predictions about future interactions that others will accept as reliable. The price of the great power of controlled scientific experimentation to generate 'knowledge' is that such knowledge is always conditional in the sense that it remains forever, in theory at least, open to being falsified. Very many interactions between phenomena (including 'natural' phenomena) and contexts are not amenable to investigation by controlled scientific experimentation; and here, by an all-too fast route, we have arrived at the topic of this symposium: law in context. William Twining (amongst others) doubts that 'law has an essence or nature or core' (Jurist in Context (2019, hereafter 'JiC'), p. 276). Whatever meaning is given to this statement, it cannot be attributing, to those against whom it is directed, the view that law can be understood independently of context. Law is sometimes contrasted with 'water', which some would say does have an 'essence'in the philosophical jargon, water is a 'natural kind' as opposed, for instance, to a 'functional kind': something defined in terms of what it does, not what it is. This cannot mean that water can be explained or described without reference to interactions between phenomena identified independently of surroundings. Water involves an interaction between hydrogen and oxygen molecules; and water exists in certain environments, but not others. Perhaps an 'uncaused cause' may be conceptualised as an entirely acontextual phenomenon; but anything and everything that has a cause has a context. If this view is convincing, we may understand 'essentialism' as the attempt to isolate a phenomenon from as much of its context as is possible, to make the phenomenon as 'small' as we possibly can relative to the total universe

2011

Abstract This paper attempts to review and reconsider the role of context in mobile learning and starts by outlining definitions of context-aware mobile learning as the technologies have become more mature, more robust and more widely available and as the notion of context has become progressively richer.

2015

of: Urpo Kovala, Theories of context. Theorizing Context. In: JLTonline (20.06.2015) Persistent Identifier: urn:nbn:de:0222-002929 Link: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0222-002929

Ambient intelligent applications do not necessarily have the luxury afforded traditional software applications of "knowing" by design in which situations they are to function. Because of the ever-changing nature of the world with which these systems interact, they have to dynamically adapt their behaviour in run time. To do this, they must be able to interpret the environment in which they are situated and adapt their behaviour accordingly.