Electronic Prayer Rug: Design and Evaluation

For more than a thousand years, the prayer rug has been used by Muslims, around the world, to conduct the five daily prayer rituals. The rug has undergone very little modification since it was first used – mainly aesthetics in the form of adding motifs and patterns. This dissertation constitutes the first major enhancement to the prayer rug: an electronic version that neither compromises the traditional form nor the simple interaction associated with the passive device. This modern version of the prayer rug enhances the spiritual experience of Muslims during prayer. The electronic version also supports the display of Quran verses – enabling Muslims, for the first time, to read un-memorized parts of the Quran during prayer. This dissertation makes a number of key contributions; first, a study of the challenges facing Muslims in fulfilling prayer requirements. Second, the design and implementation of the electronic prayer rug – the first of a kind device – to support Muslims during prayer rituals. Third contribution is using Electroencephalography to evaluate the impact of a newly designed digital device (electronic prayer rug) to support religious rituals – the first of a kind study. Fourth, conducting a four month longitudinal study to evaluate the long term impact of a newly designed digital device (electronic prayer rug) to support religious rituals – also the first of a kind study. The fifth contribution is an HCI-centered reviews and taxonomies of rituals and related tools, from several religions. These studies are the first to be performed within the area of digital tools for religious rituals.

Department dc:contributor.department

Computer Science

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• saadat, Wael Abou el

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Chignell, Mark
• Fels, Deb

• HCI eRug

Language dc:language.iso

en_ca

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1807/67248

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/67248