Personalization of Context-Dependent Applications Through Trigger-Action Rules

Abstract

Our life is characterized by the presence of a multitude of interactive devices and smart objects exploited for disparate goals in different contexts of use. Thus, it is impossible for application developers to predict at design time the devices and objects users will exploit, how they will be arranged, and in which situations and for which objectives they will be used. For such reasons, it is important to make end users able to easily and autonomously personalize the behaviour of their Internet of Things applications, so that they can better comply with their specific expectations. In this paper, we present a method and a set of tools that allow end users without programming experience to customize the context-dependent behaviour of their Web applications through the specification of trigger-action rules. The environment is able to support end-user specification of more flexible behaviour than what can be done with existing commercial tools, and it also includes an underlying infrastructure able to detect the possible contextual changes in order to achieve the desired behaviour. The resulting set of tools is able to support the dynamic creation and execution of personalized application versions more suitable for users’ needs in specific contexts of use. Thus, it represents a contribution to obtaining low threshold/high ceiling environments. We also report on an example application in the home automation domain, and a user study that has provided useful positive feedback.

A Semantic Web Approach to Simplifying Trigger-Action Programming in the IoT

“…Furthermore, recent studies criticize the expressive power of IFTTT since it is rather poor in terms of trigger and action composition [9,14], while others [15,9] show that the trigger-action approach should be further investigated to cope with the evolving IoT world. From this evidence, some works have tried to improve models and interfaces for EUD in the IoT, e.g., by allowing users to define context-dependent applications [16]. In agreement with the work of Ur et al [9], we claim that that, besides considering the context, a new breed of programming environments should be designed to support a "higher level" representation of IoT devices and services.…”

Understanding Family Collaboration Around Lightweight Modification of Everyday Objects in the Home

“…Yet, novices continue to wrestle with aligning their IoT ideas with the if-then structures of trigger-action programming and in one study, selection of triggers and actions had the lowest usability ratings of all measured dimensions [31]. Participants struggled with making an appropriate choice among available components such as choosing between event triggers or condition triggers [31]. These studies show how control constructs, component design, and appropriate metaphors can lower barriers in tailoring systems for novices.…”

“…In today's IoT systems, if-then rules in the form of trigger-action recipes are commercially available and widely used [5]. They show promise for lowering the barrier to skill transfer between expert and novice users [31,72]. Yet, novices continue to wrestle with aligning their IoT ideas with the if-then structures of trigger-action programming and in one study, selection of triggers and actions had the lowest usability ratings of all measured dimensions [31].…”

“…They show promise for lowering the barrier to skill transfer between expert and novice users [31,72]. Yet, novices continue to wrestle with aligning their IoT ideas with the if-then structures of trigger-action programming and in one study, selection of triggers and actions had the lowest usability ratings of all measured dimensions [31]. Participants struggled with making an appropriate choice among available components such as choosing between event triggers or condition triggers [31].…”

“…Although prior work [14] points out the importance of debugging new DIY-IoT rules during the course of everyday routines, we argue that an important part of debugging will be how relationships are newly configured. Unlike the debugging process discussed in the end user development literature [14,31], families will need ways to debug newly constructed relationships. To meet this challenge, focusing on an originator's debugging process is insufficient.…”