5. Context in Different Domains

5.2. Shared social environment

The richest source of commonality we have as humans, arises from our shared culture, in particular our language. In fact the trouble is that often, this source is too rich for us as academics. As Graeme Hirst points out there are often no external features that are identifiable as the commonality, since the commonality may be a purely social construct with no accompanying external markers [11]. This would mean that the external approach would not be viable. Of course, in such situations the internal approach is almost as difficult, since the heuristics used by individuals may vary amoung individuals at the same time and over time for one individual the same. This embarrassment of riches may well mean that there are no general characteristics that can be abstracted from the multitude of heuristics used to model these social constructs, and hence no generally applicable characteristics of social context per se.

This does not mean that the relevant commonalities and heuristics can not be discovered in particular instances. For example, if a set of social norms has been established within a certain social group, then it might be sensible (in circumstances where one recognises that the situation lies within that grouping) to model others' behaviour in terms of deviations from these norms. If these norms have been sufficiently externalised into an explicitly expressed set of rules this will be identifiable as a source of social context. Akman outlines some other feasible approaches to aspects of social context in [1].

The Pragmatic Roots of Context - Bruce Edmonds - 31 MAR 99

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