Investigating the Health Meanings of Young Saudi Women

Women’s structural position within society and their family roles significantly influence their health. Previous studies have shown women hold lower health and socioeconomic status because of their gender within the Saudi culture. This study aimed to provide an understanding of how Saudi women value health and define being healthy within their social contexts. Adopting an ethnographic perspective, three focus groups (31 participants in total) were conducted with volunteer undergraduate Saudi female students on campus during a nine-week field trip to the participants’ university, King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Three themes were generated from this study that characterize the meaning of health for the participants: 1) societal influences, 2) personal experiences and interactions, and 3) strategies developed from the interactions of both domains. The study findings demonstrate how societal norms and institutional policies, combined with women’s personal experiences and interactions within their environment, negatively impact the lifestyle of Saudi women, which in turn shapes their health perspectives and practices. The significance of this study and implications for research and service delivery are discussed. Keywords Health meanings, health perceptions, Saudi university women, ethnography, critical theory, qualitative research

Effective tool for exploring web: An Evaluation of Search engines

Evaluation of search engines is necessary to check the retrieval performance of search engines and to differentiate search engines from one another. The ability to retrieve and to rank the relevant result lists can be done by the process of evaluation and this process can take place in two ways viz; human based methods where one can evaluate search engines manually to calculate the significance of the returned results but this method is time consuming and expensive, while as the second is automatic method where one can make use of various techniques like retrieval measures can be used to assess the performance of search engines

Web accessibility compliance for e-Government websites in the Gulf region

The World Wide Web is a digital platform that helps people access and retrieve information in an accessible and equitable manner. However, people with disabilities can face a number of challenges when it comes to using the Web and accessing content on websites. According to Henry, web accessibility means “that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web” (2005, para.1). While different countries across the globe tackle issues of equitable access to the web via policy and legal instruments, not all countries and regions have shown progress in terms of meeting the requirements of the internationally recognised Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0). This research aimed to evaluate web accessibility and practice in e-government websites in three Arabian Gulf countries. The study sought to identify accessibility issues and discover levels of conformance to the WCAG 2.0 web accessibility standards, while also eliciting awareness and knowledge of web accessibility in practice. Exploratory research methods were applied in this study, including case studies of nations. Automated website assessments, manual assessments and document analysis were amongst the instruments used within this research. In terms of web evaluation, the findings from the evaluation conducted on e-government websites in relation to ten different sites from each of the three selected countries indicated that there was no clear evidence of an even minimal levels of accessibility features for people with disabilities. Furthermore, the webpages that were tested showed accessibility problems across nearly all aspects of the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. In terms of accessibility awareness for the organisations e-government websites examined in this study, document analysis showed that none of the government websites of Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar made specific reference to web accessibility standards, or where they did, they were not implemented. The results showed that laws and policies did exist for people with disabilities, but did not seem applicable in terms of government run e-services or content. In fact, this interpretation revealed a lack of awareness within the websites examined, despite the existence of laws and policies designed to protect and support people with disabilities. The aim of this study was to understand the role that web accessibility plays in gulf nation egovernment services, and whether citizens of these nations are being supported in relation to access to online digital resources and services. Whilst other nations have seemed to recognise the need to make government services available to all citizens, including those with disabilities, this research finds that whilst Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar enshrine the rights of people with disabilities into law, these rights do not yet seem to have found their way to the digital domain

Using mobile learning in blended learning environments in higher education: perceptions and acceptance among students and lecturers at Qassim university, Saudi Arabia

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonIn Saudi Arabia, learning methods, such as blended learning and mobile learning, have become more important than ever. However, to successfully implement such type of learning methods in higher education settings, determining the perceptions of students and lecturers is vital. Therefore, this qualitative study aims to determine students’ and lecturers’ understanding, acceptance, and barriers of using mobile learning in blended learning environments, using semi-structured interviews, open-ended surveys, and responses to the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). Overall, 108 participants were included in the study, of which 12 students attended the interview and 24 lecturers and 72 students participated in the open-ended survey. The results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, habit, academic social influence, and conditions facilitating academics are the core determinants of behavioural intention, which have direct effects on the user behaviour of students and lecturers. To our knowledge, this is the first study that has investigated blended mobile learning acceptance in Saudi higher education settings. The findings can be generalised to the most of Saudi universities and some universities in the Arabian Gulf that exhibit the same conditions

Factors influencing the establishment of technology innovation hubs - a structured literature review

The research context focuses on the establishment of innovation hubs within specific geographical locations, aiming to drive innovation and economic development. The research scope encompassed a thorough examination of existing literature to uncover the diverse range of factors influencing AI hub creation and success. Our research was prompted by the need to address the lack of a comprehensive understanding of these factors. With the aim of examining, we adopted the Structured Literature Review (SLR) methodology. Through our comprehensive analysis, we identified a multitude of critical factors. Based on the number of sources in which they were reported, the factors are listed in descending order of popularity: Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Training Facilitation, Collaboration, Availability of funding, Research, Talent, Infrastructure, Community, Environment, Business Incubator Service, Market, Job Opportunities, Culture, Monitoring and Evaluation, Clustering, Transportation, Policy, Impact, Shared Aspiration, Economic Changes, Reward and Banking

Encouraging Ethical Behaviour through Design

The phrase social responsibility appears with the word design because of the visual power of design to publicize information and knowledge. Design and social responsibility is a controversial topic in the filed of graphic design because some designers prefer to stay neutral toward social topics around them while other designers encourage utilizing the visual power of design to solve and promote social issues for the purpose of change. Above all, Design and social responsibility is usually limited by three areas: green design, designing for charitable organizations and reframing from designing for companies that either through the process or from their final product do harm to people. In my design work, supported by the investigation of the operational terms of the problem, the articulation of the research question and objectives, the introductory sketching phase, the visual research, the design approaches and the user testing feedback demonstrate a design process that can be utilized by others in the practice of design to be more socially responsible. The findings and outcomes of this research aim to create a practical guide for designers, design students and individuals interested in the filed of design and social responsibility

A Multi-level Technology Acceptance, Adoption and Implementation Model for Achieving Government-Citizen Dialogue: An Omani Case Study

The number of commercial applications that exploit Web 2.0 social media is increasing rapidly. However, little is known about the challenges that public sector organizations face when they decide to adopt Web or other technology-based applications, and offer them to consumers; particularly when governmental and civil service organizations are involved. This is particularly true in developing non-Western regions, such as the Middle East, where 'Arab Spring' developments in 2011 stimulated interest in the ability of social networking to mobilize citizens against ruling elites. Consequently, this study investigated Oman's public sector to gain a deeper understanding of the adoption and use of information technology innovation and its potential to engage governments more closely with citizens. In essence, it aimed to develop a comprehensive model of ‘organizational adoption’ and ‘citizen use’ of technology for achieving meaningful online dialogue. The focus of this study is not social media applications per se, but rather it concerns any Web or other technology-based application that is suited to improving dialogue between government organizations and citizens. The final model was derived over three distinct phases of research using a mixed method approach. In Phase I, an initial literature review developed understanding of global trends in e-Government adoption and clarified the study aims, scope, and primary research question. A more extensive literature review was then undertaken to derive a tentative 'first-cut model' theoretical framework. This contains factors considered critical to both achieving successful organizational adoption of IT innovations and a meaningful dialogue between governments and citizens. These are presented from three distinct perspectives or levels; the National level, Organization level, and Management level. In Phase II of the research, case studies involving three Omani civil services organizations helped to refine the tentative model. Policymakers and citizens were interviewed to confirm issues and identify additional adoption and use factors. Finally, in Phase III a participatory action research approach was used to test completeness of the refined model, which culminated in the final model. This study has shown that meaningful online dialogue can be used for different purposes: for facilitating access to decision-makers (mainly), for responding to citizens' enquiries and for addressing rumours. At the National level, government support—meaning political, economic and technical aspects—plus social changes has driven the acceptance of technology for improving government-citizen interactions and for sharing of information. In contrast, the major National level inhibitors are: limited availability of broadband services, other digital divide barriers, national culture barriers and political barriers. At the Organization level, having an IT strategy and top management support, adequate human, financial and technical resources, and a strong citizen-centric orientation are all factors that drive the adoption. Conversely, lack of capability, inappropriate internal culture, and resistance to change can all inhibit adoption. At the Management level, good preparation, proficiency with technical issues, accessibility and marketing issues, appropriate consideration of operational issues and end user needs are critical for implementation of Web or other technology-based applications needed to create meaningful online dialogue. Conversely, major implementation challenges concern inadequate IT infrastructure, resistance to change, and inability to recruit a suitable management team. The research also found that creating a management team, recruiting qualified moderators, controlling the discussion, responding to citizens, and defining the interaction characteristics (objectives, target citizens, participation policies and rules, etc.) are all critical for achieving a meaningful dialogue. The developed model has added to the knowledge of how to encourage technology innovations in governmental organizations, in particular through online dialogue that motivates citizens and other stakeholders to engage in meaningful discussions. For non-Omani governmental organizations having similar operational characteristics, the developed model offers lessons for policymakers and others who wish to enhance citizens' interactions; or who wish to improve the reputation of the organization; or bring about citizen-acceptable policies and decisions. Future work should be aimed at testing the developed social networking adoption model in other industries, sectors and national settings