Safewords

Before diving into this case study, I would like to firstly just thank the other members of my team with whom I collaborated with to come up with this system/SafeWords as a part of our final project for our Design Thinking for Social Innovation class.

Acknowledgements

          SafeWords was picked up and piloted for the first time in June 2022. Today it is still an active system that is being used by UTS Bars. This program/system was successfully and effectively adopted by the bar staff.

Project Highlights

SafeWords is a messaging and reporting service/system that allows bar patrons on the UTS Campus seek help from bar staff in the event they were to be in an unfortunate or uncomfortable situation. Its main purpose is to build trust between staff and students and provide students with access to support and assistance within UTS bar settings. SafeWords also seeks to remove stigmas surrounding the definition of sexual assault/harassment through the awareness of the service.

Respect.Now.Always (RNA) is part of a national campaign that works with various universities to prevent and reduce the potential for sexual harassment on campus. Each university has a representative as does UTS. RNA also implements courses and support services to facilitate and improve the universities’ response to these matters.

Our Client

Our challenge was to design a solution that RNA could implement to make students feel safer and more comfortable in seeking support from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in relation to instances of sexual violence

The Challenge

Research & Findings

Stakeholder Map

The outermost ring of the circle is the stakeholders who we would involve in a situation as the last resort and if the situation is in a critical state. The dark blue ring consists of businesses who we think are stakeholders as they are places with potential hotspots for assault and they would need resources from RNA to deal with situations. The white ring consists of people at the campus who should be kept informed of how to deal with situations. The dark red ring consists of stakeholders who could assist the victim in accessing help or possibly potential victims. The centre is the stakeholders who we are focusing on.

Interview  & Survey  Findings

Based on the responses from the survey. Interviews were conducted with a selected number of students from varying gender identities to further understand each of them and their personal concerns. A common statement that we received from most students is that they feel a reduced sense of safety during on campus events where there are loads of of students present.

Empathy Map

Ideation  +  Client Meeting – Narrowing down the scope

  Potential solution #1: Peer counsellors 

  • Having peers stationed as designated counsellors at campus events. Easily identifiable and reassuring presence.
  • Cons:
    • the easily identifiable aspect can be seen as daunting by some who want to discreetly ask for help - lowers the chances of students actually approaching them for help
    • A significant burden and pressure on those peer counsellors who may not be fully trained to handle such situations in the correct manner.
 

Potential solution #2:  Codenames for drinks for seeking help (based on angel shot effectiveness)

  • Using the same method behind the angel shot or ‘ask for Angela’ codename to allow students to ask for help without anyone knowing or alerting the assailant.
  • Cons:
    • The angel shot is universally known and therefore introducing a new codename may not be as effective and may cause confusion in certain instances
    • In order to remain discreet, there would have to be different codenames for male and female students - not inclusive of all gender identities
    • Getting students to learn new codenames for different situations can result in confusion when deciding which codename is the right one for their situation, whether the codename they’re saying is right and if the bartender remembers all the codenames and knows which one needs which kind of attention and action.
 

Potential solution #3: Live moving art wall

  • A collection of stories from anonymous students who have gone through similar situations on campus to make others not feel alone and seek out help 
  • Cons: 
    • Getting students to feel comfortable to share their story
    • Budget - renting out the space and coming up with the technology to maintain the flow of different stories
    • Overall reach is not there

Final Solution 

  • Messaging and reporting service – conveyed by QR Code at UTS Campus Bars – more inclusive approach to include more than just sexual harassment

Prototyping

Based on the results of the ideation process and feedback we received from our client meeting,  an initial set of questions were formed. These questions were also curated based on our interaction and meeting that we conducted with UTS’s Bar Manager.

Usability Testing

Through both moderated and unmoderated user testing, we were able take notes on and observe the users interaction (overall ease of use) of the prototype as well as how they reacted to and responded to the questions. We then sat down with them and conducted interviews with further prompts to determine the effectiveness of the service as well as fill in any gaps that arose during the testing phase. Based on these results, we were able to refine the questions, how they were phrased, and the follow up questions that ensued and came up with a refined systems walkthrough to use in the final product.

Final Product

The Final Product was designed using SurveySparrow. 
We were also able to outsource to one of our friends whos’ an animation major to help us design the posters for our system to be put up in campus bars

*Actual management of the QR code has been taken over by the University