‘Start Engage’ is a digital plugin on news and social media sites which lets readers explore different options to engage in supporting different causes. This individual project was developed during the Designing for Impact and Behaviour class, exploring how people might move beyond information consumption, reposting, and digital petitions where slacktivism rarely translates into offline helping behaviour.

Inspired by the online movements in Hong Kong refocusing on local social and community issues after a year of social turbulence, the project explores ways for people to translate engagement from online to offline. 

Through behavioural mapping looking at different cognitive biases, it was hypothesised that there are two main behavioural barriers that are preventing people to take action - people often do not know where to start (intention-action gap) even if they are interested in supporting a specific cause and when it comes to engagement, donations and volunteering come to mind by default (availability bias),  which could be a high barrier for a lot of people owing to perceived high levels of commitment with time and financial resources (hassle factor). 

The plugin acts as an intervention when someone is reading a news article or social media post. It tries to address:

Availability Bias

By showing limited options that people can engage in through supporting a social enterprise (based on users’ geolocation data), volunteering (in the next 14 days), or donating (monthly spotlight charity)

Intention-Action Gap

By making it possible for people to act when the intention is still fresh where people can mark the locations of social enterprises on their maps, sign up for volunteering opportunities, or donate to a charity in spotlight

Hassle Factor 

By triggering a specific behaviour through cues and limiting actions people might take.