Importance Of Context, By Tony Zampella | ServiceSpace

“Information is now both content and context.” A passing comment made by my mentor in 1999, has since stuck with me and changed the way I think and listen. It was as prescient as Marshall McLuhan’s 1964 comment, “the medium is the message.” To date, the importance and pervasiveness of context remains a mystery. What is it? How can we discern and create it? The subject of context—defining, distinguishing, and examining its application—is worth exploring. A good way to start is to differentiate content from context. One can infer content from its context, but not vice versa. Take the word “hot.” This word can describe the heat of an object, the temperature of an environment, or a spice level, as in hot sauce. It can also imply a physical quality, as in “That guy’s acting is hot,” or connote a standard, such as “That person looks hot.” The meaning of “hot” is unclear until we use it in a sentence. Even then, it might take a few more sentences to understand the context. That car is hot. Th

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• Nhung Nguyen