HCI practices in software-development environments in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Within the human–computer interaction (HCI) community, there is a wide range of experience and approaches to integrating user research in the software-development life cycle. Independent HCI consulting and contracting is becoming a more prevalent mode of user research globally, but our understanding of the local context in some regions is limited. This paper reports the results of a survey of 65 practitioners working in software-development environments in Saudi Arabia. The survey was conducted in January 2018 and covered a range of aspects: profiles of respondents and their organizations, their perception of usability, user experience and user-centered design, assessment of current HCI activities, and motivation for and obstacles to adopting HCI practice in software-development environments. The results revealed recognition of HCI practices was greater than expected. The adoption of HCI practices in the industry and private sector was greater than in government organizations. The findings also suggested that the most-used HCI activities were prototyping and stakeholder meetings for requirements elicitation. The degree of importance of decision factors for adopting HCI practices and the frequency of obstacles to adoption of the practices varied slightly among government, private, and semi-government organizations. The study results also provided basic information for HCI practitioners and researchers who are interested in appropriating HCI methods to meet local needs. Here, we discuss the results and provide implications for advancing HCI practice in software-development environments in Saudi Arabia.