With an Eye to the Future: HCI Practice and Research in the Arab World1

ArabHCI initiative was inaugurated in a CHI17 SIG Meeting that brought together 45+ HCI Arab/non-Arab researchers/practitioners who are conducting/interested in HCI within Arab communities. The meeting started an ongoing dialogue that recognizes the fact that HCI is still in its infancy in the Arab world and explores challenges and opportunities for shaping the future of HCI in the region. The meeting was further followed by three successful meetings in SIGCHI sponsored events that included general discussions about the state of HCI research in Arab countries, and a thematic discussion on exploring participatory design practices with Arab communities. In this workshop, we build on the momentum generated by our previous meetings, and attempt to draw a roadmap for HCI research and practice in Arab world. Our goal is to bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss case studies from their own work, share experiences and lessons learned, and envision the future of the field in this area. We plan to share the results of our discussions and research agenda with the wider CHI community through various social and scholarly channels.