An identification and contextualization system comprising a contextualizing engine is provided. The contextualizing engine comprises various components that are operable to analyze an information item related to a user for identifying one or more individuals associated with the information item, and interrogate a graph structure for determining whether each of the one or more individuals associated with the information item is someone whom the user has met or has worked with based on edges and weights stored in the graph structure. When an individual who is associated with the information item is identified, the contextualizing engine is further operable to discover contextual information associated with the individual, and generate an information element surfacing the contextual information associated with the individual for display to the user.