Local, Interactive, and Actionable: a Pandemic Behavioral Nudge

TL;DR

This paper introduces CovidCommitment.org, a system combining behavioral commitment and localized infection data visualizations to promote nonpharmaceutical intervention adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contribution

It presents a novel interactive platform that integrates social commitment with localized infection data to influence public health behaviors.

Findings

Preliminary analysis shows increased user engagement.

Users responded positively to localized infection visualizations.

The system potentially enhances NPI adherence.

Abstract

The informational environment surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic has been widely recognized as fragmented, politicized, and complex [1]. This has resulted in polarized public views regarding the veracity of scientific communication, the severity of the threat posed by the virus, and the necessity of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) which can slow the spread of infections [2]. This paper describes CovidCommitment.org, an effort toward enhancing NPI adoption through the combination of a social behavioral commitment device and interactive map-based visualizations of localized infection data as tabulated via a 1-hourdrive-time isochrone. This paper describes the system design and presents a preliminary analysis of user behavior within the system.