Towards design guidelines for software applications that collect user data for Ubicomp

One of the core requirements of Ubiquitous Computing is to be context-aware. This means that in ubiquitous applications, there is a need to know, among other information, the user profile so that it can be adapted to the different skills and capabilities of users, with regard to physical and cognitive characteristics, and interaction preferences. In the literature, different ways of establishing the user profile can be found, in particular, the use of sensors and software agents. However, each application or service is responsible for collecting user data. No specific applications for data collection have been found that can be used on a large-scale and in an interoperable manner. This paper proposes a set of guidelines that should be followed during the design and development stage of the user's data collection applications. The guidelines were drawn up in the light of the literature and an analysis of the results based on an application of the PICTIVE participatory design technique.