User need and experience of Hajj mobile and ubiquitous systems: Designing for the largest religious annual gathering

The Hajj pilgrimage is one of the largest annual events in the world. Each year, millions of Muslims visit the holy sites in Makkah. While Hajj mobile applications that help pilgrims perform Hajj activities efficiently are gaining popularity, little has been done to investigate pilgrims’ needs and t...

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Main Author: Khalid Majrashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-01-01
Series:Cogent Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2018.1480303
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author Khalid Majrashi
author_facet Khalid Majrashi
author_sort Khalid Majrashi
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description The Hajj pilgrimage is one of the largest annual events in the world. Each year, millions of Muslims visit the holy sites in Makkah. While Hajj mobile applications that help pilgrims perform Hajj activities efficiently are gaining popularity, little has been done to investigate pilgrims’ needs and their experiences of these applications. During the 2017 Hajj season, we conducted a study to investigate the needs and experiences of Hajj mobile service users. We used a questionnaire to investigate the need for 20 Hajj mobile features and found that maps (particularly offline maps) were the most needed feature. We also interviewed 16 pilgrims to investigate user experience (UX) of Hajj mobile applications. Three major themes emerged from our qualitative analysis of the perceptions reported by our participants: UX problems with the current mobile applications, the importance level of application features, and opportunities for improving the UX of applications. We relate these themes to specific implications for designing a better UX of mobile applications used for Hajj and its related domain (religion) and to applications for use in similar contexts (e.g., crowd and movement situations).
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spelling doaj.art-9ec02159d2364d429095892b1d536c882023-09-03T06:54:24ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Engineering2331-19162018-01-015110.1080/23311916.2018.14803031480303User need and experience of Hajj mobile and ubiquitous systems: Designing for the largest religious annual gatheringKhalid Majrashi0Institute of Public AdministrationThe Hajj pilgrimage is one of the largest annual events in the world. Each year, millions of Muslims visit the holy sites in Makkah. While Hajj mobile applications that help pilgrims perform Hajj activities efficiently are gaining popularity, little has been done to investigate pilgrims’ needs and their experiences of these applications. During the 2017 Hajj season, we conducted a study to investigate the needs and experiences of Hajj mobile service users. We used a questionnaire to investigate the need for 20 Hajj mobile features and found that maps (particularly offline maps) were the most needed feature. We also interviewed 16 pilgrims to investigate user experience (UX) of Hajj mobile applications. Three major themes emerged from our qualitative analysis of the perceptions reported by our participants: UX problems with the current mobile applications, the importance level of application features, and opportunities for improving the UX of applications. We relate these themes to specific implications for designing a better UX of mobile applications used for Hajj and its related domain (religion) and to applications for use in similar contexts (e.g., crowd and movement situations).http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2018.1480303hajjhcimobile applicationsusabilityuser experiencereligioncrowdmobilityubiquity
spellingShingle Khalid Majrashi
User need and experience of Hajj mobile and ubiquitous systems: Designing for the largest religious annual gathering
Cogent Engineering
hajj
hci
mobile applications
usability
user experience
religion
crowd
mobility
ubiquity
title User need and experience of Hajj mobile and ubiquitous systems: Designing for the largest religious annual gathering
title_full User need and experience of Hajj mobile and ubiquitous systems: Designing for the largest religious annual gathering
title_fullStr User need and experience of Hajj mobile and ubiquitous systems: Designing for the largest religious annual gathering
title_full_unstemmed User need and experience of Hajj mobile and ubiquitous systems: Designing for the largest religious annual gathering
title_short User need and experience of Hajj mobile and ubiquitous systems: Designing for the largest religious annual gathering
title_sort user need and experience of hajj mobile and ubiquitous systems designing for the largest religious annual gathering
topic hajj
hci
mobile applications
usability
user experience
religion
crowd
mobility
ubiquity
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2018.1480303
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