The “Kaeru-Chan” Webapp is a playful social technology intended to connect people with physical community spaces (specifically akiya, or vacant houses in Japan) through the stewardship of a virtual “frog” token. Participants become temporary stewards of a frog, carrying a location-tagged frog (a digital token, possibly represented by a physical mascot “Kaeru-chan”) from one akiya site to another. This is akin to a “passing the torch” ritual: when a visitor arrives at an akiya, they take charge of the frog and later deliver it to the next location. The overarching goal is to explore how such an interactive location-based game can influence human behavior and feelings toward places and communities. In other words, can a traveling virtual pet frog deepen people’s attachment to these revitalized homes and encourage social connections?
To address this question, we need a robust experiment design grounded in social psychology and HCI research. As a behavioral science researcher, one would approach the frog webapp as an intervention: a social object introduced into a community to observe changes in behavior, attitudes, and social dynamics. This document outlines relevant literature, proposes hypotheses, and suggests experimental designs to study Kaeru-chan’s impact on community engagement and place attachment.
Hypothesis + Experiment Design