Online Information Review

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion of context in ubiquitous computing. Personal Information Managers exploit the ubiquitous paradigm in mobile computing to integrate services and programs for business and leisure. Recognising that every situation is constituted by information and events, context will vary depending on the situation in which users find themselves. The paper aims to show the viability of tailoring contextual information to provide users with timely and relevant information.

Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted after testing on a group of real world users. The test group used the application for approximately half a day each and performed a number of tasks

Findings – The results from the survey show the viability of tailoring contextual information to provide users with timely and relevant information. Among the questions in the questionnaire the users were asked to state whether or not they would like to use this application in their daily life. Statistically significant results indicate that the users found value in using the application.

Originality/value – This work is a new exploration and implementation of context by integrating three dimensions of context: social information, activity information, and geographical position.