Context - Definition and Overview

See also ConTeXt, a macro package for the TeX typesetting system.

Context includes the circumstances and conditions which "surround" an event. Within specific academic disciplines, it has the following meanings:

• In archaeology, the context (physical location) of a discovery can be of major significance. See Stratification. More precisely, an archaeological context is an event in time which has been preserved in the archaeological record. The cutting of a pit or ditch in the past is a context, whilst the material filling it will be another. Multiple fills, seen as layers in archaeological section would mean multiple contexts. Structural features, natural deposits and inhumations are also contexts. By separating a site into these basic, discrete units, archaeologists are able to create a chronology for activity on a site and describe and interpret it.
• In communications and linguistics, context is the meaning of a message (such as a sentence), its relationship to other parts of the message (such as a book), the environment in which the communication occurred, and any perceptions which may be associated with the communication.
• In computer science, context is the circumstances under which a device is being used, e.g. the current occupation of the user. (see also context awareness)