User-Centered Design of Hyperlocal Communication Platforms: Insights from the Design and Evaluation of KUBO
For residents in the Philippines, this work provides a user-centered solution to improve real-time access to verified local information and community engagement.
The paper identifies barriers to hyperlocal communication in the Philippines and presents KUBO, a prototype that significantly reduces task completion times (p<0.001), improves information recall (p=0.010), and increases user satisfaction compared to Facebook.
Effective hyperlocal communication is critical in the Philippines, where delayed or algorithm-filtered updates can leave residents uninformed about emergency advisories and community events. We conducted a user-centered study consisting of contextual inquiry and semi-structured interviews to identify four key barriers: delayed alerts, algorithm-driven noise, language gaps, and digital divides. Guided by these insights, we designed KUBO (Kumunidad at Balitang Opisyal), a prototype that integrates a home module for verified local government unit advisories and curated headlines, and a community module for resident-powered neighborhood reports and discussions. Using a within-subjects evaluation design, KUBO significantly reduced task completion times (p-value < 0.001), improved information recall on post-task quizzes (p-value = 0.010), and yielded higher user satisfaction ratings for ease of use, overall satisfaction, and perceived effectiveness compared to Facebook, the commonly used communication platform in the Philippines. These results demonstrate that a dual-channel, inclusive platform can substantially enhance real-time information access, comprehension, and civic engagement in hyperlocal settings.