A High-Level Approach Towards End User Development in the IoT

Programming environments for end-user personalization in the Internet of Things (IoT) are becoming increasingly common. They allow users to define simple IoT applications, i.e., connections between different IoT devices and services. Unfortunately, the adopted representation models are highly technology-dependent, e.g., they often categorize devices and services by manufacturer or brand. Such an approach is not suitable to face the expected growth of the IoT, nor it allows to adapt to yet undiscovered IoT services. In this paper, we present a generic and technology-independent representation for IoT end-user programming environments. The aim of this "high-level" representation is to allow end-users to create abstract IoT applications that adapt to different contextual situations. We preliminary evaluated the representation by comparing it with the one used by existing programming environments in a user study with 10 participants. Results show that the representation is understandable, and it allows users to create IoT applications more correctly and quickly.