The challenge of continuous user participation in eBayanihan: Digitizing humanitarian action in a nationwide web mobile participatory disaster management system

Disaster is a complex problem that needs to be addressed using a multidimensional and multiplatform framework in collecting information from disaster agents. Social media has been an additional source of information from the ground. e-Bayanihan is designed to add the human dimension by providing a mobile and Web based reporting tool for citizen reporting aside from collecting information in social media. The system serves as a real time dashboard for government agencies assigned to monitor communities during disaster events. However, success of community based computing systems such as e-Bayanihan is measured by continuous participation from its users. Appropriate motivation is relevant assuring continuous participation. This paper presents a new method of designing a community based computing environment that uses motivation analysis in determining the most probable critical software features that will maximize continuous user participation. The features to be evaluated were extracted from the development team and an initial survey was conducted to determine user motivations based on the volunteer functions inventory. Initial factor analysis revealed three motivation types, namely: civic responsibility, career, and protection. A second survey evaluated the usefulness of each feature in usage scenarios based on the motivation types identified in the first survey. Results indicate that Posting Messages in an Open Forum, Reputation Rating by Peers and Event Notification via FB, Twitter or Text are affected by two factors, namely user motivation and scenario, further validated in usage statistics in e-Bayanihan.