From making claims to establishing patterns: Understanding mobile user interface design in Ethiopia

In the last decade, the number of mobile phone users has been growing significantly all over the world. It becomes evident that in developing countries the number of users of mobile phone surpasses the number of desktop or laptop users. On the other hand, mobile technology promises its potential to facilitate various social and business services to underserved societies. Thus, it is imperative to study the mobile user interface design which is a key enabler for adoption and continued use of mobile services. This research will study, identify, analyze, and formulate the design rationale and design guidance by considering mobile application design in Ethiopia context. The research focuses on providing and apply appropriate knowledge capturing, design and sharing mechanism. The main contributions of this research will then be establishing HCI patterns based on the hypothetical claims sets and context, which will also explore and frame the connection between claims and patterns. The research paradigm that will be employed in the research will be design science research.