Designing for Religious Information Needs in Egypt and Saudi Arabia

Religious information needs continue to play a critical role in the lives of millions of people around the world. The body of literature in HCI that focuses on religious information seeking is lacking. In this study we explore information sources for religious needs, gain deeper insights to contextualize religious needs over time, evaluate a prototype for prayer times, and propose design principles for religious information needs. We triangulated data from a qualitative mix-method approach including a remote task-based study (n=14), prayer app diary study (n=50), and in-depth interviews with design evaluation (n=10). The results surfaced and shaped design principles for religious seeking information. When it comes to religious information needs, users need an application to 1) Fulfill direct tasks, 2) Support peripheral needs, 3) Indicate credible sources, and 4) Provide content for a range of sensory.

• Human-Computer Interaction and Visualization