Abstract We show the special role that the concept of context plays in collaboration, specially on aspects of communication, interaction and knowledge sharing, reflecting on group work productivity, quality and satisfaction. In this work we address the representation and dynamics of context discussing its implications and opportunities to improving collaborative work support. (A full version of this paper is available at http://www-sysdef.lip6.fr/~brezil/FLAIRS-05/Araujo-Brezillon.pdf