We’re creating a new solution to issues society has refused to fix.
Among the ethical issues modern society faces is the status and treatment of women and children, and certainly those characterized as “minorities” At one level, there is a question as to whether they are both properly and ethically served by technology. At another, whether they are equally and equitably considered in the process of the creation of technology. As a woman of Afrikan descent, such concerns occupy a lot of my interest and concern as a scholar and as a person.
Specifically as a victim of child molestation, rape, and gender -based abuse, and of the mental health challenges that arise from such an experience, I have occupied myself with creating avenues that fuse modern technology and creativity in ways that can help to both prevent such experiences and also to ameliorate the effects for those who have already been victimized.
The H.O.P.E app would be a technology designed in part by a woman of color for women of color within their cultural perspectives, and applicable to a contemporary challenge in their daily lives. It would have two components:
- Buttons on the app would allow the users anonymously to access local counseling, law enforcement, and other social services when dealing with situations of abuse, assault, or molestation.
- They would then be able to communicate with others about their experiences in the form of a journal entry, diary, or poem, that they could keep private or share, with the option of including location information, so that groups of women in a particular area could develop an informal community of sharing experiences and ideas.
