Personal safety guide application for women using direct combination technique / Nor Atikah Raimi

There are many cases where unfavourable incidents fall upon women as a result of an increasingly violent world. Women walking to places such as going and coming back from work have been assaulted and subjected to physical harms. Because of these risks to safety, women fear going out alone not only at night, but also during day time. As a solution to this problem, many developers have developed smartphone applications to be used by women. However, most of these smartphone apps are reactive; users push panic button that contact the authorities or send alarms to emergency contacts when they feel in danger. A more proactive solution to personal safety for women is proposed, in which users are presented with a list of practical steps that they can quickly act in situations where they feel unsafe. The purpose of these guidelines is to allow users to avoid being in a highly dangerous situations at the first place or becoming a victim. In developing this application, a user interaction technique called direct combination is proposed. This technique which uses icons and its combinations may allow users to quickly access the information they need, at the time where they urgently need them.