Cyber Harmony Project
Type of work
Individual design project but co-creation with Kinning Park Complex in Glasgow
Duration
3 months, May to April 2022
Tools
Figma, Miro, Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, PowerPoint
My Role
UX designer, Service designer, Workshop organizer
Background
Cyber violence is an increasing problem, often gender-based, and targets women and girls. I wanted to research this topic because I was one of the victims of cyberbullying. I understand that it is often difficult for women to tell people close to them what is happening and how they feel when they experience cyber violence. I was very vulnerable and sensitive for a long time, and I think it has changed me in a good way. Now I’m stronger than before and willing to focus on this topic calmly, trying to help others. Now that CVAW is a global issue, 46% of women responding to the survey who had experienced online abuse or harassment said it was misogynistic or sexist. However, despite this, there are very few regulations on cyber crimes targeted at women. The root of the problem of cyber violence against women, which is trans-spatial and geographical, is that gender equality has not yet been achieved in this society. Patriarchy leads to misogyny, and the anonymity of the online world and the inadequacy of laws exacerbate the occurrence of violence against women online. With the development of the Metaverse, there will probably be more violent comments in the virtual world in the future.
Why this project now?
Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls (CVAWAG) has not yet been adequately conceived or prohibited by EU law. However, the existing evidence indicates that, as compared to men, women are disproportionately the targets of several types of cyber abuse. One study found that women were much more likely than men to have experienced online sexual harassment and cyberstalking, and the effects of these types of abuse were more traumatic for victims.
Online abuse has the potential to become much more invasive and realistic as we go into the metaverse and virtual reality settings. Online abuse and cyberbullying, personal safety, and sexual harassment were the three main issues that internet users in the United States had with the metaverse as of March 2022. Men expressed significantly more interest in utilising the Metaverse than women did, according to the same survey, with half of all women responding that they had no interest in using it at all.
Why focus on cyber violence against women instead of focusing on physical violence?
The main reason is physical violence is easy to measure, while Cyber Violence is hard to measure. It can be different to everyone. The current laws’ systems underestimate the long-term mental impact on victims. Also, many women internalize mental injury and choose not to seek help. This is not conducive to the normal development of society.
Future concerns – Worries about the Metaverse
With the move towards the metaverse and virtual reality environments, online abuse has the potential to become even more intrusive and realistic. As of March 2022, online abuse and cyberbullying, personal safety, and sexual harassment were all major concerns of internet users in the United States surrounding the metaverse. The same survey revealed that men showed a much greater interest in using the metaverse than women, with half of all women surveyed saying they were not at all interested in using it.
Who Did I Engage With? What Did I Do, And What Are The Findings?
Empower Women For Change is a community-based organisation empowering women. EWFC provides a social, economic and political platform to develop women’s leadership skills and function as active citizens in Scotland and beyond. Engaging with them is because of the organisation’s progressive feminist ideology and ability to lead women to advance themselves. And I needed to talk to this organisation to gain more perspective on the issue of online violence against women and misogyny.
Kinning Park Complex has a long history of education and activism. It is a place that has served its communities and been protected by its communities for over 100 years. The reason for engaging with them was because this community is enormous, has almost daily activities, and is keen to be involved in my project. And I needed to interact with many people of all ages in this community to get more information about my project.
Figure one is the strategic system map. People in the community participated in my project and ran a workshop to discussed strategies to reduce the incidence of online violence from several perspectives.
I came up with some findings based on the engagements, different age groups have different levels of understanding of cyber violence and misogyny and give very different opinions and ideas. It makes me think about the policy response from more perspectives. Most people believe the family factor is the most important, especially before adulthood. Therefore, according to the engagement results, I can design new policies according to the elements with different degrees of influence.
Ideas Brainstorming
1. Keyboard Redesign – add the ‘Check’ option. Add a ‘check’ button to the typing keyboard. If you want to check whether a sentence you have written is offensive or hate speech, you can use the ‘check’ button to help you check the language of your comment before sending it.
2. Websites require verification of identity. All websites must add the ability to verify personal information before users can use the comment function. However, personal information will not be visible to other users but will exist in a ‘verified’ and ‘unverified’ form.
3. Send a request for permission to the owner of the photo. Scenario: Jack wants to send a sexy picture of Ruth to Tom. When he sends it, a pop-up box appears ‘Send photo request permission to photo owner’, Jack chooses to send it. Ruth has received a request from Jack to send a photo to Tom and has the right to allow or deny it.
4. Censorship and rewards for online speech. By using big data, your online speech is regularly checked. If the evaluation result is excellent, points are awarded. Points can be used to exchange for daily necessities in supermarkets.
5. Mutual aid community. The mutual aid community has three functions: Spiritual help, Legal assistance, and Contacting websites to remove malicious comments.
6. Censorship of online speech before hiring. ‘The internet records everything and forgets nothing.’ Whether you are getting married, going to university or looking for a job, censorship of online speech helps people understand an applicant’s personality better.
7. Manifesto. Manifesto for people (parents, children, schooling, communities, organisations, Scottish government) to shape a healthy online environment and achieve an equal society. Also, as a toolkit – check the boxes next to what you are willing and able to do if you identify as a parent, child, member of an organisation, or community.
8. Kind comments on Instagram with hashtags leading a trend. We should try to leave kind comments with hashtags on blogger posts affected by cyber violence. #cybrmonyproject; #standwithkindness.
9. A website where students can filter hate speech. A web student can help filter hate speech on many web pages; Work as an internet volunteer; Learn about gender equality and hate speech; Download free manifestos; Points can be used as a reference standard for entering a university or seeking a job.
Design Proposal
This design proposal aims to raise awareness and combat cyber violence and misogyny against women by offering online volunteering with a point system, which can be used as a reference for university admissions and company recruitment. The website also offers a downloadable manifesto as a tool to measure behavior, available to families, schools, organizations, and communities, including the Scottish Government.
Prototype Testing
Outcome This is how the website ended to look like.
Values And Limitations
How my proposal has a broader impact?
First of all, my project is not about solving problems but about reducing the incidence of online violence using guidance and rewards. The Manifesto is suitable for people of different identities who can refer to it as a toolkit for reflecting on their behaviour. The Manifesto is only a reflection and can be extended to include new articles.
Parents can use the Manifesto to reflect on their behaviour and learn new things that will positively impact their children. Children can use the Manifesto to reflect regularly on whether they have done the above, are familiar with the concepts presented in the Manifesto, and have their own opinions. This will reduce the incidence of violence in schools and respect for women. Organisations and communities can refer to the Manifesto to organise regular events on cyber violence, gender equality, etc., to influence the behaviour and relationships of people in the community. The Manifesto also includes a section on the Scottish Government, a policy vision devised by the participants in the community and myself. The Manifesto is subject to change as policy changes and society changes, but it is intended to lead people to think, act and speak with care.
There are two key innovations in the website proposal:
1. Students become volunteers for online speech and develop the habit of reporting hateful speech when they see it so that they can discipline their behaviour.
2. A change in hiring criteria. Schools and companies are not only looking at academic qualifications or work experience as a criterion for getting an offer. Still, they are also looking at online speech as a criterion for hiring.
What are the limitations of this project?
My project proposal required the participation and cooperation of many people to have an impact. Otherwise, it will only serve as a toolkit for family reflection. When I worked with the community, I neglected to consider men. This directly impacts my Manifesto, which lacks a male perspective. My Manifesto probably only assumes the female position in the policies we come up with. In the next version of the Manifesto, I will integrate the male perspective into the policy approach.
Another thing is the limited use of language in my project, in working with the community, and if my English had been better, we might have worked more intensively together.
Finally, due to time constraints, I discussed the possibility of running a workshop with one of the community members. She was very willing to let me run it, but running a successful workshop is not an easy task and requires a lot of time and repeated testing, as well as a good performance at the workshop and feedback afterwards.