Abstract
Websites and applications that match and connect individuals for romantic purposes are commonly used in the Western world. However, there have not been many previous investigations focusing on cultural factors that affect the adoption of similar technologies in religiously conservative non-Western cultures. In this study, we examine the socio-technical and cultural factors that influence the perceptions and use of matchmaking technologies in Saudi Arabia. We report the methods and findings of interviews with 18 Saudi nationals (nine males and nine females) with diverse demographics and backgrounds. We provide qualitatively generated insights into the major themes reported by our participants related to the common approaches to matchmaking, the current role of technology, and concerns regarding matchmaking technologies in this cultural context. We relate these themes to specific implications for designing marital matchmaking technologies in Saudi Arabia and we outline opportunities for future investigations.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | DIS 2017 - Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems |
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery, Inc |
| Pages | 1013-1024 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781450349222 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 10 2017 |
| Event | 12th ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2017 - Edinburgh, United Kingdom Duration: Jun 10 2017 → Jun 14 2017 |
Publication series
| Name | DIS 2017 - Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems |
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Other
| Other | 12th ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2017 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Edinburgh |
| Period | 6/10/17 → 6/14/17 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2017 ACM.
Keywords
- Arab studies
- Culture in computing
- Islam
- Matchmaking
- Muslims
- Saudi Arabia
- Social computing
- Social media