Seek and Reflect: A Mobile Scavenger Hunt to Develop Community Engagement

Abstract

Fostering a sense of connection to a place and building relations between residents are goals of community engagement. Engagement doesn't have to be serious, rather it can be playful and casual. Periodic local festivals bring communities together and provide context for introducing information and communication technology (ICT) for community engagement. We report on a mobile scavenger hunt app released during a local festival, to understand how it facilitated community engagement. We interviewed 15 app users about their community experiences and how the app supported them to engage with various aspects of the festival and host community. We found that the app augmented community engagement through increased place attachment, an awareness of neighbors, seeking out new experiences, and providing opportunities for reflecting on historic events. We suggest that mobile ICTs for community engagement be entertaining and flexible, and leverage both online and offline activities to get people engaged in their community.