Easing communication means selection using context information and semantic technologies

Due to the advances in the ICTs in recent years, the variety of communication means at our disposal has noticeably increased. Some communication means offer simple tools to inform users about the status and availability of their contacts. However, not all of them offer this functionality, and indeed, elements like context, preferences and habits of the contact, which currently are not considered, should be taken into account before trying to stablish communication with a contact. In order to tackle this problem, we propose a platform that takes into account these features to assist users in deciding what communication means to use with each contact in each moment. Considering the real-time constraints of the system, a series of performance tests are also presented. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013.