This research explores the potential of augmented reality (AR) in revolutionizing business-to-customer (B2C) experiences, specifically in the fashion industry within the African retail sector. Customers often struggle to envision how products will look or function in their own spaces due to limited differentiation between products or services. Businesses, on the other hand, face increased competition and struggle to capture customer attention. This makes informed purchasing decisions difficult as customers cannot physically examine products or experience services firsthand. This project aims to create an AR-based shopping experience that is both interesting and convenient, by developing an AR application coined "Xperience", designed for facial virtual try-on of various fashion items, including glasses, hats, and face masks. With a focus on young, tech-savvy shoppers and businesses looking for a competitive edge, the goal is to build an AR application that enhances the shopping experience and helps businesses boost their sales through AR features such as customizable color options and gesture-based interaction. An agile scrum framework with a participatory design approach was used in the development of the solution. The implementation was done using Unity Engine, 3Ds Max for 3D models optimization and modeling, Figma, Lucidchart and Photoshop for design, and pattern recognition for face landmark detection and occlusion handling. The user testing conducted with 19 participants confirmed that the application is significant and has the potential to improve customer engagement and satisfaction. However, limitations such as small-scale testing, device compatibility issues, and restricted customization options were identified. By combining research, planning, and hands-on development, this work aims to demonstrate that AR can be a game changer for online shopping. The research has significant implications for increased customer loyalty, increased sales, and a better understanding of the strategic value of AR in e-Commerce in a modern business setting.
There is a growing relevance of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) across diverse domains, but its presence in African universities remains largely confined to computing-related disciplines. This paper presents insights from a panel discussion held at a university in Africa, it brought together faculty members from Physics, Chemistry, Microbiology, and Computer Science with HCI expertise, to explore the awareness, perceptions, and potential applications of HCI in their fields. The discussion revealed limited exposure to HCI concepts, yet highlighted opportunities for improving user experiences in laboratory systems, data interfaces, and digital experimentation tools. We discuss barriers to interdisciplinary engagement, such as curricular silos and resource limitations, and propose strategies for integrating HCI into non-computing science education. Our reflections suggest that promoting HCI dialogue across departments can spark collaborative innovation, enrich research, and enhance the usability of scientific tools and processes in African academic contexts.
User literacy levels significantly impact the adoption of Internet banking applications in Nigeria. Inclusive design principles hold the potential to improve usability for users with low digital literacy, yet this approach still needs to be researched and implemented in the Nigerian banking sector. This mixed-methods study investigates UX design practices in Nigerian banking, evaluating how well current Internet banking systems adhere to inclusive design guidelines. Findings reveal partial adherence, demonstrating both usability strengths and substantial room for improvement to meet the needs of low-literacy users. While design experts demonstrate awareness of inclusive design, practical implementation still needs to be improved. Recommendations include increasing awareness of digital literacy and inclusive design, prioritizing inclusive research with diverse users, and adopting evaluation tools specific to inclusive design to ensure best practices.
This study examines the potential of hybrid solar wind systems as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel generators for women entrepreneurs in northern Nigeria, a region where more than 85 million people lack reliable electricity access. Using a mixed methods approach, the research investigates energy usage patterns, renewable energy awareness levels, and the feasibility of adopting solar-wind hybrid systems among women-led micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Findings reveal that while the national grid remains the primary energy source, 2.2% of 2,537 participants surveyed use wind energy, and 19.3% adopt some form of solar energy. The survey evaluated monthly energy consumption patterns from lower- and middle-income earners, revealing that a smaller percentage (15.6%) spent between N25,000 (USD 16.30) and N50,000 (USD 32.60), while 27.1% spent between N15,000 (USD 9.78) and N25,000 (USD 16.30) on energy every month. This implies that a significant portion of the income generated by women-owned businesses in Northern Nigeria is spent on energy costs rather than being used for business investment readiness activities. The paper highlights the necessity of specific environmental policies, such as local production and circular economy initiatives for solar and wind hybrid materials and pay-as-you-go financing models. The inclusion of vulnerable community groups for gender-sensitive business thinking models will contribute to Nigeria's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), fostering inclusive economic growth. Solar-wind hybrid systems can become a significant alternative to reduce energy poverty and empower women-led businesses by utilising Northern Nigeria's abundant solar radiation and wind speed.
Human-Plant-Computer Interaction (HPCI) is an emerging interdisciplinary field that explores the integration of humans, plants, and computational technologies to create innovative, sustainable, and meaningful interactions. This paper presents a thematic-historical review of HPCI, tracing its roots across diverse domains such as bioelectrical engineering, agriculture, art, architecture, and robotics. It also highlights its evolution into modern applications like virtual environments, tangible interfaces, and extended reality. The review reveals HPCI's broad scope, cultural and technological foundations, and capacity to address global challenges, particularly sustainability. While North America, Europe, and Asia - especially Japan dominate the research landscape, contributions from Africa and South America remain limited. This gap underscores the need for a more inclusive approach incorporating diverse cultural and ecological knowledge. This paper identifies key milestones, trends, and interdisciplinary overlaps by examining the field's progression, offering insights into HPCI's potential to enrich human-nature relationships. The paper advocates for a broader definition of HPCI that accommodates regional perspectives and promotes collaboration across disciplines. Future directions include visualizing HPCI's geographical and temporal evolution, exploring researchers' motivations, and fostering contributions from underrepresented regions. These efforts can help ensure that HPCI addresses pressing global sustainability issues and represents the diverse voices and contexts essential for its growth. This review aims to inspire a more inclusive, globally relevant HPCI research community and advance sustainable innovation at the intersection of technology, ecology, and culture.
Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are fundamentally reshaping Africa's socio-technological landscape, with United Nations Development Programme projections indicating a potential $1.5 trillion economic impact. Despite this potential and proliferating AI initiatives across the continent, a significant gap exists in understanding the public perception of AI's implementation, societal impact, and inherent challenges within African contexts. This study presents a human-centered analysis of 129 unique posts spanning 2,326 sentences of Reddit public discussions pertaining to AI in Africa. Using a mixed-methods approach integrating machine learning-based sentiment analysis with systematic thematic analysis, we investigate how AI technologies in Africa are perceived and conceptualized by the public within online communities. Our findings elucidate complex narratives surrounding AI adoption, revealing both substantial optimism regarding its transformative potential in critical sectors (such as healthcare, agriculture, and finance) fear, and concerns regarding potential negative impact and implementation challenges. The analysis demonstrates varied levels of technological literacy/awareness, divergent perspectives on AI application priorities, and multifaceted viewpoints on stakeholder roles. This research advances the field of human-centered AI through four primary contributions: (1) comprehensive real-time insights into public perception, (2) identification of user-centric adoption challenges, (3) uncovering of disparities between expert and public understanding, and (4) evidence-based policy recommendations. These findings significantly enhance our understanding of how AI technologies can be effectively and responsibly deployed within African contexts while addressing local perspectives, needs, and sociocultural considerations.
This study introduces a Responsible AI (RAI) co-design framework for culturally valid representations, developed through community-based co-design with an Ovahimba community of Namibia. The framework emphasises three key pillars of process, purpose, and context, to ensure that AI systems accurately and respectfully represent indigenous knowledge and cultural values. To evaluate the framework, two Virtual Reality (VR) worlds were created: one AI-generated, which did not incorporate local cultural aspects, and the other designed using the framework to co-create culturally valid representations. Both VR worlds were assessed with members of the Ovahimba community. The results demonstrate the ability of the framework to guide RAI development that can safeguard cultural heritage and promote inclusive, accurate, and meaningful digital representations. This scalable approach offers a model for integrating cultural validity into AI systems across diverse communities.
Digital transformation has become crucial to improve the delivery of government services in developing countries. These services when viewed in isolation ignore the larger context, which is integral to users' experience of the service. Further, when services are evaluated through the specific implementation technology, it becomes difficult to compare service evolution over time. In this paper, we introduce a user experience lens for evaluating government services as they evolve to e-government services. The goal is to understand the user experience independent of the service technology. It considers services as they exist in an ecosystem of access channels (e.g., in person, by telephone, and online) and official and unofficial intermediaries that facilitate access. Through a qualitative case study approach, we apply the framework in Rwanda to explore the value of the approach. The findings demonstrate the types of insights the framework can provide and suggest the framework is a practical lens for policymakers, service providers, and public administrators to identify and overcome challenges in government services.
This course introduces storytelling as a powerful and culturally grounded practice in User Experience (UX) design, with a specific focus on African contexts. Drawing from African oral traditions, including the use of metaphor, repetition, rhythm, and symbolism, participants will explore how local narratives can shape digital interfaces that feel intuitive and meaningful to their users. Through a blend of theory and hands on practice, the course connects storytelling to UX principles such as user flows, affordances, and cultural mental models. Participants will engage in a collaborative design activity using Figma, where they will transform familiar African proverbs or stories into interface prototypes. By the end of the session, attendees will have gained practical tools for applying storytelling to participatory design approaches and creating culturally resonant user experiences.
African culture did not remain behind on the continent; it traveled with its people, adapting and evolving across the diaspora. One example of this migratory knowledge is As. e. (also rendered Ashe, Ache, or Axe), a Yoruba term that carries both spiritual and social power. Rooted in cosmological understandings of divine authority and intentionality, As. e. appears across Afro-Caribbean religions, African American cultural production, and even digital activism. Yet despite its wide and enduring presence, terms like As. e. remain difficult for computational systems to parse. This case study explores the implications of As. e. for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), focusing on how culturally layered terms can be better understood and integrated into AI systems. We present a layered glossary approach and a prototype annotation tool that supports contextual interpretation of As. e. within retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows. Through corpus analysis, system design, and researcher reflection, we model an HCI practice that treats cultural retention not as noise, but as valuable data. Our work offers a pathway for building systems that engage African diasporic knowledge with the care, flexibility, and reverence it deserves.
E-learning systems have gained interest in their adoption in Africa since the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting both opportunities and challenges. This study explores designers' perspectives on developing e-learning systems for African learners, utilizing YouTube as a platform for insights into their approaches and methodologies. Based on our analysis of 143 relevant YouTube posts, we uncover insights into unique challenges in the African educational landscape, including limited technological infrastructure, diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and varying digital literacy levels. Findings from this study revealed potential for user-centered and inclusive designs that impacts on learning experiences and outcomes of African learners, educational support from stakeholders, and opportunities for affordable systems. Our findings contribute to the human-computer interaction community by identifying prospective need areas, presenting tailored approaches and features, and providing user-centered design recommendations. This research provides valuable insights and presents future opportunities for designing equitable and accessible e-learning systems for African learners, having addressed common and current challenges in the state of e-learning systems in Africa.
WASSCE Lab is an AI-powered exam preparation platform designed to support high school students in West Africa as they prepare for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). The system addresses educational inequities by providing students in one of the most disadvantaged country with free access to exam preparation. This system allows students to practice using past exam questions that are structured by topic and difficulty. These practices are aligned with the official WASSCE syllabus. In addition to practicing, students receive support from an AI powered chatbot( built using GPT-4o) that acts as a tutor, offering immediate feedback and explanations when students answer questions incorrectly or seek clarification. Based on the hope of providing equitable education, the WASSCE Lab was co-designed with local educators and tailored to the Liberian context. The chatbot is engineered to maintain focus. With support from Liberia's Ministry of Education, the platform is being scaled nationwide and used in public and private schools. WASSCE Lab demonstrates how inclusive, localized AI technologies can empower learners and educators in under-resourced environments.
This case study explores the development of an emotionally responsive chatbot system that integrates sentiment-driven facial expressions with real-time lip synchronization, resulting in a visually expressive and emotionally adaptive virtual agent. The system was evaluated through controlled interactions and performance testing, focusing on sentiment detection accuracy, visual responsiveness, and synchronization quality. Sentiment analysis achieved an average classification accuracy exceeding 85%, with particularly strong results in detecting emotional extremes such as delight and frustration. Corresponding facial expressions, especially through animated eye movements, were reported by users as appropriate and contextually relevant. The lip synchronization mechanism, which maps phonemes to visemes in real time, maintained a latency of approximately 50 milliseconds, significantly enhancing realism and user engagement. These integrated features contributed to improved clarity, empathy, and naturalness in chatbot-human interaction. Additionally, the system offers accessibility benefits for users with hearing impairments or those needing stronger emotional cues. By combining visual, verbal, and emotional channels, the chatbot transcends traditional dialogue systems to become a more relatable and socially aware digital companion.
A variety of digital technologies have been used to support early childhood development (ECD) programs in low-income South African communities. Even though technology has provided opportunities to increase access to health interventions, the lack of trust and socio-economic constraints under which these tools would need to work pose complex challenges. We examine home visitors' work processes, experiences, and preferences of a conversational agent to support their work of administering social-emotional well-being assessments to young children ages 0-5. Analysis of the results of focus groups with 51 home visitors indicates the need for designing conversational agents that support ECD in the cultural context of South African communities, and engaging through trust-building activities, which is essential for the sustainability of an ECD intervention. We identified that home visitors find it essential to engage in trust-building activities with caregivers through personal storytelling, community workshops, and empathetic communication. This allows home visitors to engage caregivers in using a conversational agent for their child's social-emotional well-being assessments. Additionally, we provide key design considerations for the low-income South African community context by designing the conversational agent in local languages, cultural phrases and idioms, and to include visual elements to enhance literacy. We present design implications for designing conversational agents rooted in a foundation of trust and ways to incorporate storytelling approaches into conversational agents. This work advances the exploration of the types of complex challenges that can arise in resource-constrained settings by introducing new technical methods in innovative ways rather than refraining due to implementation and sustainability challenges.
This course presents an actionable and transferable model for teaching web accessibility and inclusive technology design to working professionals in emerging regions. Drawing on my experience designing and delivering a master's-level course at Kuwait University, this submission introduces a curriculum that blends technical practice with critical reflection and cultural relevance. With methods including live auditing, participatory usability testing with people with disabilities, and input from industry and community guest speakers, the course successfully moved learners from passive awareness to active application and advocacy within their workplaces.
The growing prevalence of social media in the Global South in both urban and rural communities presents an opportunity to design technology for teacher communities in low-infrastructure contexts. However, engaging rural teachers poses challenges due to limited internet access and low digital literacy, hindering their conventional participation in social media. To address this, we propose an innovative chatbot design that boosts interaction among rural teacher communities. Over four weeks, we deployed a chatbot on Facebook Messenger among 127 teachers in rural Cote d'Ivoire. We then interviewed 17 teachers to uncover that the chatbot encouraged asynchronous participation by addressing questions and facilitating community discussion. Our qualitative findings demonstrate that the chatbot and its accompanying Facebook page enhanced interaction with community members, fostering a virtual community for teachers. These outcomes suggest promising design opportunities for incorporating chatbots into virtual communities for rural teachers in low-infrastructure settings.
This paper explores the concept of "co-design" in digital heritage based on a proposed project that aims to develop a digital public engagement tool for a heritage site in Africa namely the Brandberg National Monument Area (BNMA) in Namibia. The heritage material within the BNMA has, over the years, been researched and digitised within an open repository hosted by the University of Cologne in Germany. The project intends to use the pre-existing digital content, which currently serves an academic research intent, to develop a tool that can be used by the general public to engage with the rich existing collection. To this extent, the project seeks to use stakeholders of the BNMA in designing a solution in the form of a digital tool. The project proposes a different approach to co-design which includes the combination of Design Science Research with Participatory Action Research.
Type 2 Diabetes represents a growing health crisis in low-resource settings, particularly in Nigeria, where cultural and socio-economic factors complicate care. Traditional design approaches in this context often replicate Western methods, failing to capture the unique contextual experiences of diverse populations. Furthermore, there is a recurring transfer of innovation from Western contexts to Nigeria, which can result in design solutions that do not resonate with local users, limiting their relevance and effectiveness in addressing the specific challenges faced by communities. To address these gaps, we conducted two interconnected studies: the first focused on distributed design workshops with 19 participants-including people with Type 2 Diabetes, caregivers, and pharmacists-and the second involved the evaluation of the prototype with 30 different participants. In this contribution, we highlight the pressing needs for enhanced T2D education, nutritional guidance, and improved communication, offering recommendations for optimizing their delivery within the digital health landscape of Nigeria.
Luxor, Egypt, renowned for its rich cultural heritage, presents challenges for tourists due to fragmented transportation and limited cultural integration. This case study introduces Khepri: The Beetle Experience, a design concept aimed at enhancing the tourism journey in Luxor. Drawing inspiration from the ancient Egyptian scarab deity, Khepri, a symbol of the sun's journey and daily rebirth, the project proposes an integrated mobility experience rooted in both tradition and innovation. Grounded in field research with tourists and local stakeholders, the design emphasizes accessibility, environmental adaptability, and the role of local symbolism in shaping future-forward solutions. It demonstrates how Human-Computer Interaction can bridge heritage and innovation to support inclusive, context-sensitive experiences in tourism design.
Africa is the fastest-growing continent, but the number of Afrocentric datasets is still limited. African languages like Swahili are getting more traction in foundation models, and new initiatives are focused on collecting written and audio data for languages currently underrepresented. Yet, the way data enrichment works is often dictated by how technology companies have been doing data labeling, and ignores the perspectives of the people doing the tasks. In this case study, we share our learnings from doing an end-to-end project with data enrichment workers, where they built the prompt and then performed tasks, after which they could participate in imagining future tools for this type of work. We contrast user perspectives from doing the work in Swahili as compared to in English, and present ideas for future data enrichment tools and process for capturing language nuances. Finally, we suggest different approaches to building data enrichment paradigms that would encourage the communal realities of Swahili.
