Context Wars: the short version

Ricky and my current debate on context has, as ever, been interesting and informative, at least to me (and Clinton?). The question I asked myself yesterday afternoon was, "why am I so down on the idea of context". I think I know. Even better, I think I can express it clearly.

Here's the short version: The problem with context-sensitive computing is that it seems to often (though not always) try to remove or discount the agency of users in the system. However, to do so it seems that all relevant context would need to be available to the system. I believe that there will often (though not always) be some relevant context that is unavailable to the system and therefore the system will make bad decisions.

You may also want to read Context Wars: the long version.