Codex ContentWhere Does Context Come From?
Context is important. I think we know that. Context refers to the conditions in which something exists or occurs.
It’s important when we read scripture to have an understanding of the context of the verse, not just pull it out and base our world view on the Christian life from one verse.
It’s important when we talk to people to see facial features and gestures, its actually often more important than what the person is saying. Just start using IM for every conversation you have (something I practically did for 8 years) to see this theory in practice.
Its important in relationships when we praise or rebuke someone, that there is an understanding of the context from which that comes.
I believe it is also important to at least think about the context of the content we produce. What are the contributing factors that effect how that particular content in perceived, reacted to, and used. I think some of those questions can help understand the context in which we place our content and better understand what the best avenues are for the content we have to distribute.
Below is a table I have worked up and referenced at times to put my own ideas in context and help me understand what to expect from them.
| Contributing factor |
Spoken |
Books/Print |
Web |
| Cost to access | High cost of registration, travel and time commitment | Has some cost associated with purchase and shipping | Very near free, cost associated with access, but can be free |
| Cost to create | Can be very high, rent, volunteers | Can be very high, or very cheap, often depending on distribution | Can be a cost associated with it but often near nothing |
| Effort | High effort to be present at event | Some effort to acquire the materials | Very little effort |
| Weight | Heavy infrastructure around event organization, space, setup, cleanup | Average weight added by review system, publishers, distribution | Light, nimble, flexible. Can be easily published, moved and deleted |
| Reach | Restricted to those in attendance |
Broad access to published books and articles but limited by physical distribution |
Only limited to those with access to the web (665 million users +) |
| Context owner | Personal context to the attendee and the speaker established by the presentation |
Authors can establish context within the confines of a longer book where the author outlines major points |
Often created by the reader, or copy/pasted and placed in another context by the end user |
| User distribution | Hard when not captured and often a one off talk. Users notes are often their own. | Possible. Photo copies can be made for physical reproductions which can be shared | Easy, copy and paste takes seconds to move around the world and to any group you want to share it with |
Some useful links:
Two thoughts:
1) A colleague of mine wrote a nice paper about context that can be read here:
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~jpd/ubicomp/Dourish-Context-PUC.pdf
2) I’m working on a context-aware instant messaging client called Nomatic*IM that I’d love for people to bang on. When I mean context I mean something much more closer to the user than “cultural context” but its related. See http://luci.ics.uci.edu/#code
-Don