“Multiliteracies for Inclusive Technologies: A Case Study on Location-Based Services and Domestic Violence Survivors”

by Jennifer Roth Miller | Xchanges 12.1

Digital Literacy Possibilities for Domestic Violence Survivors, Cont.

The result of the UCF project was a contextually designed smartphone application wireframe. The team worked with a participatory design committee made up of representatives from local domestic violence organizations, injunction court, county and university police, victim services, a domestic violence-related foundation, and university students (Walls et al., 2016).

Ultimately, the app allowed survivors to control geolocation information at the level they needed. For example, they could turn off all geolocation in an emergency with the push of one button. In less dangerous times, they could perform a scan on their phone to see which applications are accessing geolocation information at any given time. The app also included opportunities to silently and privately text and call the National Domestic Violence Hotline, with conversations hidden from call and text logs. The entire app was both password protected and hidden behind a “cloak” — a “ghost mode” that made the app appear to be a simple game, while within it survivors could receive help and control geolocation services.

Each of these approaches provided strengths along with disadvantages. The top-down education program taught survivors skills that were predetermined as important. While surveys indicated survivors found the education useful, they didn’t maximize their learning and were left with more questions after the training. The popular technology program offers strengths that leverage peer education in contextually relevant situations. The app provides some tools, but in the end is only an artifact. Combining the app with a peer-led, multiliteracies and popular technology inspired authentic learning approach may be a promising solution.

Peer-led multiliteracies education efforts in shelters focusing on functional, critical, and rhetorical literacies are hopeful. Functional literacy skills would allow survivors to modify phone and application settings. Critical literacy skills would allow them to make informed decisions about which technologies and applications they will or will not use. Finally, rhetorical or reflective literacies would aid them in co-creating tools such as their own app to streamline controlling their privacy based on their specific needs. A future research study testing this combined model would be very worthwhile.