TAPrec
Fulvio Corno, Luigi De Russis, Alberto Monge Roffarello
Abstract
Nowadays, users can personalize the joint behavior of their connected entities, i.e., smart devices and online service, by means of trigger-action rules. As the number of supported technologies grows, however, so does the design space, i.e., the combinations between different triggers and actions: without proper support, users often experience difficulties in discovering rules and their related functionality. In this paper, we introduce TAPrec, an End-User Development platform that supports the composition of trigger-action rules with dynamic recommendations. By exploiting a hybrid and semantic recommendation algorithm, TAPrec suggests, at composition time, either a) new rules to be used or b) actions for auto-completing a rule. Recommendations, in particular, are computed to follow the user's high-level intention, i.e., by focusing on the rules' final purpose rather than on low-level details like manufacturers and brands. We compared TAPrec with a widely used trigger-action programming platform in a study on 14 end users. Results show evidence that TAPrec is appreciated and can effectively simplify the personalization of connected entities: recommendations promoted creativity by helping users personalize new functionality that are not easily noticeable in existing platforms.