IT Challenges in Hajj Management
Associate Professor Mohammad Yamin (King Abdul Aziz University (KAU), Saudi Arabia)
COMPUTER SCIENCE SEMINAR information & Human-centred computingDATE: 2011-09-09
TIME: 14:00:00 - 14:50:00
LOCATION: CSIT Seminar Room, N101
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ABSTRACT:
Hajj is an annual pilgrimage to Mecca which attracts millions of pilgrims every year. There is also a lesser pilgrimage known as Omrah, which can be performed around the year. Currently, the number of overseas pilgrims to the two events exceeds 9 million per year. The plan is to increase this to 16 million by 2030. Hajj is managed by the Saudi government through many departments, agencies and organisations. It is multi-billion dollar activity but the Saudi government doesnat derive any monetary benefits from it; on the contrary, they spend hundreds of millions towards medical and other services and facilities. Over the last decade or so, various incidents of stampedes, fires, building collapse etc. have occurred causing death to thousands of pilgrims. Currently, the event management of Hajj is largely manual with IT not playing a significant role, although the infrastructure has significantly expanded and boosted to avoid the recurrence of disasters.
Mohammad in his talk will describe the Hajj case and discuss IT issues and challenges relating to Hajj management. Mohammad would also briefly talk about the Saudi state funding mechanism for research projects on Hajj, as well as other projects which aimed at enhancing the lives of Saudi citizens. Some details about Hajj management are available at www.hajjmanagement.com
BIO:
Mohammad Yamin is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management Information Systems, King Abdul Aziz University (KAU), Saudi Arabia. Mohammad is also currently a Visitor at the Australian National Universityas School of Computer Sciences. Mohammad obtained his PhD in Mathematics from the ANU, and has previously served the ANUas School of Computer Sciences as an academic for two years. Between 2001 a" 2009, Mohammad held a tenured position at the University of Canberra, where he served as a Senior Lecturer in Information Systems prior to his departure. Mohammad also has industry experience having worked at Centrelink (now known as the Department of Human Services) between 1997-2001.
For the last seven years or so, Mohammad has taken active and significant interest in advocating for an IT framework to improve the management of Hajj (a yearly Islamic pilgrimage made by millions to Mecca). Mohammad has also written papers on other crowded events like the Kumbh in India.
