research-article

Supporting mental model accuracy in trigger-action programming

Authors:

Maya CakmakAuthors Info & Claims

UbiComp '15: Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

Pages 215 - 225

https://doi.org/10.1145/2750858.2805830

Published: 07 September 2015 Publication History

Abstract

Trigger-action programming is a simple programming model that enables users to create rules that automate behavior of smart homes, devices, and online services. Existing trigger-action programming systems, such as if-this-then-that (IFTTT), already have millions of users worldwide; however, their oversimplification limits the expressivity of the programs that can be created. While extensions of IFTTT to allow more complex programs have been proposed, previous work neglects a key distinction between different trigger types (states and events) and action types (instantaneous, extended, and sustained actions). In this paper, we systematically study the impact of these differences through two user studies that reveal: (i) inconsistencies in interpreting the behavior of trigger-action programs and (ii) errors made in creating programs with a desired behavior. Based on a characterization of these issues, we offer recommendations for improving the IFTTT interface so as to mitigate issues that arise from mental model inaccuracies.

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Cited By

Giudici MPadalino LPaolino GParatici IPascu AGarzotto F(2024)Designing Home Automation Routines Using an LLM-Based ChatbotDesigns10.3390/designs80300438:3(43)Online publication date: 13-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/designs8030043
Kim C(2024)Transforming Everyday Objects into IoT Control Interfaces: Design and Evaluation of the 'e-Rings' SystemArchives of Design Research10.15187/adr.2024.11.37.5.2937:5(29-49)Online publication date: 30-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.15187/adr.2024.11.37.5.29
Vaiani GPaternò F(2024)End-User Development for Human-Robot Interaction: Results and Trends in an Emerging FieldProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36611468:EICS(1-40)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3661146
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Supporting mental model accuracy in trigger-action programming
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

UbiComp '15: Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

September 2015

1302 pages

ISBN:9781450335744

DOI:10.1145/2750858

General Chairs:
Kenji Mase
Nagoya University, JP
,
Marc Langheinrich
Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), CH
,
Daniel Gatica-Perez
IDIAP-EPFL, CH
,
Program Chairs:
Hans Gellersen
Lancaster University, UK
,
Tanzeem Choudhury
Cornell University
,
Koji Yatani
Univerisity of Tokyo, JP

Copyright © 2015 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Yahoo! Japan: Yahoo! Japan
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Google Inc.
ACM: Association for Computing Machinery
Rakuten Institute of Technology: Rakuten Institute of Technology
Microsoft: Microsoft
Bell Labs: Bell Laboratories
SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction
KDDI
Panasonic: Panasonic Corporation
NTT DoCoMo
Telefónica: Telefónica
ISTC-PC: Intel Science and Technology Center for Pervasive Computing

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 07 September 2015

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UbiComp '15

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Yahoo! Japan
SIGMOBILE
FX Palo Alto Laboratory, Inc.
ACM
Rakuten Institute of Technology
Microsoft
Bell Labs
SIGCHI
Panasonic
Telefónica
ISTC-PC

UbiComp '15: The 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

September 7 - 11, 2015

Osaka, Japan

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UbiComp '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 101 of 394 submissions, 26%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 764 of 2,912 submissions, 26%

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Cited By

Giudici MPadalino LPaolino GParatici IPascu AGarzotto F(2024)Designing Home Automation Routines Using an LLM-Based ChatbotDesigns10.3390/designs80300438:3(43)Online publication date: 13-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/designs8030043
Kim C(2024)Transforming Everyday Objects into IoT Control Interfaces: Design and Evaluation of the 'e-Rings' SystemArchives of Design Research10.15187/adr.2024.11.37.5.2937:5(29-49)Online publication date: 30-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.15187/adr.2024.11.37.5.29
Vaiani GPaternò F(2024)End-User Development for Human-Robot Interaction: Results and Trends in an Emerging FieldProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36611468:EICS(1-40)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3661146
Vaiani G(2024)Adaptive End-User Development for Social RoboticsProceedings of the 2024 International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces10.1145/3656650.3656748(1-3)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656650.3656748
Andrao MGini FFrageri DBucchiarone ACappelletti ATreccani BZancanaro M(2024)RuleCraft: an End-User Development Hub for EducationProceedings of the 2024 International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces10.1145/3656650.3656741(1-3)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656650.3656741
Gao PLiu FWen DGao YZhang LWang CZhang QZhang YMa SLu QMi HXu Y(2024)Mul-O: Encouraging Olfactory Innovation in Various Scenarios Through a Task-Oriented Development PlatformProceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3654777.3676387(1-17)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3654777.3676387
Stegner LHwang YPorfirio DMutlu B(2024)Understanding On-the-Fly End-User Robot ProgrammingProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660721(2468-2480)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3660721
Ikeda BSzafir D(2024)PRogramAR: Augmented Reality End-User Robot ProgrammingACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction10.1145/364000813:1(1-20)Online publication date: 12-Jan-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3640008
Song YBian YWang XCai Z(2024)Learning from User-driven Events to Generate Automation SequencesProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36314277:4(1-22)Online publication date: 12-Jan-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3631427
Xue XLi XJia BDu JFu X(2024)Who Should Hold Control? Rethinking Empowerment in Home Automation among Cohabitants through the Lens of Co-DesignProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642866(1-19)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642866
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