Crowdsourcing Software & Sexual Harassment Mapping

I received an email from a friend who wrote "Liz I thought you retired? I see that you have quite a bit going on work wise." How true. One project is with  SHout (Sexual Harassment Out), a collaboration of Malaysian NGOs. I attend its meetings and take on small tasks. An early task was to learn what was happening in other parts of the world. I found Egypt's, compelling, Harassmap.com. Clearly, others were similarly captivated.  Currently interactive maps are posted in Bangladesh, Lebanon, and Syria, and others are under development in Ramallah and Turkey.. I offered to write a technical note on what it would take to install, implement and maintain such a map in Malaysia. As I worked on the project I was reminded that good ideas cannot simply be transferred from one place to another. Unless the adopters make the project their own, it is probably doomed.

An interactive map does not guarantee that reports will be made, data will be used, or sexual harassment will diminish. First, reporting incidences is easy - they can be sent by SMS, app (iphone, android), web, tweet, or email - but one has to be motivated and know how to report. Publicity helps; the number of reports received are said to vary directly with the amount of publicity. Second, such a project may be not be received with widespread enthusiasm. Some may ask what the maps say about a country and its men, or will the sponsoring group compete with other NGOs for funds? So the map may be just one piece in the struggle against sexual harassment. In Egypt the map "hangs there." Its messages are read and verified. From time to time research is conducted and reports written. But Harassmap focuses n community outreach.

The information reported is embedded in the culture: All the groups ask for the same information (incident, date, time and place). The incidence check lists vary among the countries and reflect each country's concerns. Egypt's list includes ogling, catcall, invitations for sex, sexual assault and so on. Bangladesh added incidences such as, abduction, acid attacks, forced or under-aged marriage, forced or influenced suicide, and murder. (The "submit reports page states "report any incidents against women and girls that you have seen yourself,") Syria list is chilling. Its scroll down menus categorize incidences as those committed by government forces, Shabiha forces, or others. The list includes detention for sexual violence or enslavement and sexual assaults against boys and men. To further illustrate how difficult life in Syria is the home page has a link on digital security. 

Volunteers and outreach: Harassmap's volunteer link links to its community outreach guide and a volunteer application. Volunteers are explicitly recruited to work on community outreach, social media, research, and supporting efforts other countries with the emphasis on community outreach. On the first Saturday of each month between 50 and 100 members go out in small teams to talk with people in their neighborhoods about sexual harassment. About 50 percent of the volunteers are men, who are involved because they do not want their mothers, wives, girlfriends, or daughters to be harassed. The founders had envisioned volunteers who could organize and manage themselves, in actuality the volunteers require active input and support from the Cairo group.

A note on Facebook: Each website has a FB page (the entries are seldom in English).  From a conversation with Harassmap I learned that its FB page announces events and supports communications among volunteers; some community outreach teams have created their own FB pages.  Harassmap believes that FB works better than a blog, and their blog shows llittle current use. 

A note on software: The crowdsourcing software in Ushadidi, an open source platform. Two women at Bijoya, who work in digital communications, installed it from their desktops. Harassmap was installed by a tech savvy volunteer. Harassmap has largely ignore the system since, it works just fine with no loving care.

A final note:  Perhaps the visual representation of the maps motivates people to act, but the real work continues to be on the ground. The deep roots of sexual harassment was evident in Tahrir Square, Cairo, when women protesting sexual harassment were attacked. 

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