"Context" from the human perspective: dispositions and practice

As the notion of ubiquitous computing moves from abstract ideal to collective reality, a number of opportunities emerge that have the potential to dramatically change the devices that populate our daily lives and the patterns of interaction that those devices engender. To ensure that ubiquitous technologies enable useful interactions, we need to incorporate a more expressive notion of context, including how it is enacted, how it is identified, and how it is understood and utilized. This paper presents such an approach, highlighting the ways in which context can be defined in practice through the identification of the human dispositions that shape our everyday activities. These dispositions provide a shared vocabulary for technologies and its users to more effectively mediate meaningful interactions.