Designing a Medical Crowdfunding Website from Sense of Community Theory

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A sense of community is important in encouraging people to contribute to a variety of causes and the communities that support them. Researchers have identified website design features that can engender a sense of community on sites to promote contributions. However, most findings about the design features are based on observational empirical research testing single features at a time or on standard practice and rarely use integrated theories to provide rationale for their design suggestions. This work investigates ways to re-design an entire website---with a simulated medical crowdfunding interface entitled Community Journey---informed by Sense of Community Theory to increase site visitors' sense of community and contributions. A between-subjects experiment revealed that the Community Journey interface increased potential supporters' sense of community and their overall willingness to contribute via monetary donations, campaign shares, message writings, and offline support. Think-aloud interviews identified the interface features responsible for the overall increase in willingness to contribute. Finally, we suggest theory driven design implications for creating websites to build a strong support community and to encourage various contributions.