Automation in computing systems has always been considered a valuable solution to unburden the user. Internet of Things (IoT) technology best suits automation in different domains, such as home automation, retail, industry, and transportation, to name but a few. While these domains are strongly characterized by implicit user interaction, more recently, automation has been adopted also for the provision of interactive and immersive experiences that actively involve the users. IoT technology thus becomes the key for Smart Interactive Experiences (SIEs), i.e., immersive automated experiences created by orchestrating different devices to enable smart environments to fluidly react to the final users’ behavior. There are domains, e.g., cultural heritage, where these systems and the SIEs can support and provide several benefits. However, experts of such domains, while intrigued by the opportunity to induce SIEs, are facing tough challenges in their everyday work activities when they are required to automate and orchestrate IoT devices without the necessary coding skills. This paper presents a design approach that tries to overcome these difficulties thanks to the adoption of ontologies for defining Event-Condition-Action rules. More specifically, the approach enables domain experts to identify and specify properties of IoT devices through a user-defined semantics that, being closer to the domain experts’ background, facilitates them in automating the IoT devices behavior. We also present a study comparing three different interaction paradigms conceived to support the specification of user-defined semantics through a “transparent” use of ontologies. Based on the results of this study, we work out some lessons learned on how the proposed paradigms help domain experts express their semantics, which in turn facilitates the creation of interactive applications enabling SIEs.

计算系统中的自动化一直被认为是减轻用户负担的有价值的解决方案。物联网（IoT）技术最适合不同领域的自动化，例如家庭自动化，零售，工业和运输等。尽管这些域的显着特征是隐式用户交互，但最近，自动化也已被用来提供积极参与用户的交互式和沉浸式体验。因此，物联网技术成为智能互动体验（SIE）的关键，即通过编排不同的设备来创建沉浸式自动化体验，以使智能环境能够对最终用户的行为做出流畅的反应。在某些领域，例如文化遗产，这些系统和SIE可以在其中支持并提供多种收益。然而，这些领域的专家虽然对引入SIE的机会很感兴趣，但是当他们需要自动化和编排IoT设备而无需必要的编码技能时，却在日常工作中面临着严峻的挑战。本文提出了一种设计方法，该方法试图通过采用本体来定义事件-条件-动作规则来克服这些困难。更具体地说，该方法使领域专家可以通过以下方式识别和指定IoT设备的属性：本文提出了一种设计方法，该方法试图通过采用本体来定义事件-条件-动作规则来克服这些困难。更具体地说，该方法使领域专家可以通过以下方式识别和指定IoT设备的属性：本文提出了一种设计方法，该方法试图通过采用本体来定义事件-条件-动作规则来克服这些困难。更具体地说，该方法使领域专家可以通过以下方式识别和指定IoT设备的属性：用户定义的语义更接近领域专家的背景，有助于他们自动化IoT设备的行为。我们还提供了一项研究，该研究比较了三种旨在通过“透明”使用本体来支持用户定义语义规范的不同交互范例。根据这项研究的结果，我们总结出一些经验教训，以了解所提出的范例如何帮助领域专家表达其语义，从而促进创建支持SIE的交互式应用程序。