As internet connectivity has become widespread, we see the rise of gender-based violence in digital spaces. The web is an extension of patriarchal and unequal offline spaces, where many forms of violence against marginalized genders are reproduced online, from harassment to cyberstalking to image-based sexual abuse. Some - because of their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or caste - face disproportionate levels of digital abuse and harassment. Yet, most tech platforms are not designed to meet the needs of survivors, and at worst, perpetuate harms. Chayn and End Cyber Abuse will host a workshop on exploring survivor-centered, trauma-informed, intersectional technologies to prevent and redress gender violence, including principles like survivor co-creation and responsible data collection. We will highlight case studies of good practice, gather feedback from participants, and send people into breakout rooms to workshop a survivor-centric design of an app or social platform.
We are excited about the opportunity to connect with others in the field, including technologists, designers, activists, researchers, policy folks and others, who are interested in designing technology with the survivor in mind. We hope to continue the conversation post-Mozfest. Most immediately, we will be producing a "field guide" on survivor-centric, intersectional design, and will incorporate insights from this event into our final product. We will also provide participants the opportunity to stay connected and offer feedback and input into our field guide. Attendees will also be invited to attend a launch workshop and training for this guide later in 2021, which will offer the tools to operationalize these principles into their work.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:Our session will be designed to be participatory and collaborative. While we begin with a quick sharing of the research, principles, and case studies developed by Chayn and End Cyber Abuse, we will create ample space for participants to work together during the session to ideate ways to implement these survivor-centered design principles into tech creation. We will deal with varying numbers of participants by scenario planning for 3, 10, or 30 participants. We can break into groups as long as we have at least 3 people per group. If we have 30 people, we'll need to break into more groups, but that can be easily adjusted. We may then need to make larger groups (5 people each) and keep introductions only in the chat to manage time.
What is the goal and/or outcome of your session?:.
Akhila is Co-Director of End Cyber Abuse. She has worked internationally on gender violence in online and offline spaces, and provided legal representation to survivors of tech abuse.
Nishma is a gender rights activist and human rights lawyer based between Mumbai and London. Her experience spans work on gender, access to justice, technology & harm and labour rights.
