Requirements Engineering for Digitizing Traditional Medical Knowledge: The Case of Building Phytomedicine Mobile-Web Application in Tanzania

Abstract

The digitization of traditional medical knowledge in Tanzania will greatly enhance its preservation and dissemination. This is especially important given the challenges facing the current methods of preserving and managing such knowledge. This study presents the requirements engineering approaches and requirements for a web-mobile application that would successfully digitize indigenous knowledge of phytomedicine and relevant practitioners licensing and registration processes. To establish the requirements of such a digital system application, the study sought the opinion of 224 stakeholders whose suggestions were used to analyze and model the requirements for designing such a web-mobile tool. The study was carried out in Arusha, Kagera and Dar es Salaam regions of Tanzania which involved ethnobotanical researchers, herb practitioners, curators from herbaria and registrar officers from Traditional and Alternatives Health Practice Council. Structured interview, survey, observation and document review were employed to find out the basic functional and non-functional requirements for possible designing and implementation a web-mobile application that would digitize indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants. The requirements were modelled using the use case and context diagrams. Finally, the study came up with a list of items for both functional and non-functional requirements that can be used as guidelines to develop a web-mobile application that will capture and document traditional medical knowledge of medicinal plants in Tanzania and, enabling relevant authorities to regulate and manage stakeholders.