Modelling user context

A major problem in the domain of context-aware and adaptive HCI is the lack of a shared understanding of context. Many of the existing context-aware applications act independently from a shared context management service relying on a curtailed context model not appropriate for interoperability between independently running components. This paper aims at identifying the core of context parameters for a mobile user, followed by a discussion about the classification of these parameters. For each identified class, the most important properties are then determined. The context model presented here is a result of our two major projects from the domain of mobile workplaces and mobile knowledge management (map and mummy ). Most parts of the model, however, can be applied in arbitrary scenarios and systems.