Context as a dynamic construct

Context is a dynamic construct. Although some contextual situations are fairly stable, discernable, and predictable, there are many others that are not. Similar looking contextual situations may actually differ dramatically, due perhaps to people's previous episodes of use, the state of their social interactions, their changing internal goals, and the nuances of local influences. The consequence is that, for all but simple cases, the designer of a context-aware application may find it difficult or even impossible to (a) enumerate the set of contextual states that may exist, (b) know what information could accurately determine a contextual state within that set, and (c) state what appropriate action should be taken from a particular state.