Harassmap – a sadly needed service

Tomorrow I will meet the team behind harassmap.org at the Social Media Cafe in Cairo. About HarassMap:

HarassMap is a new social initiative that will help restore Egypt’s tradition of public safety for women using an SMS reporting system for sexual harassment to change its social acceptability, spread awareness and revitalize the public movement.

There is so much to say about the situation in the middle east, about the amazing people I have had the fortune to meet, and about where social media is going in this region. I’ll get back to all that, after returning home and sorting all the impressions.

But for now I just want to give a shoutout to my followers and friends – send a message to the team behind the HarassMap. It has the potential to be a great example of using social media as a changemaker. Give them cheer, provide ideas or just reach out to make contact. Write a comment here or blog about it. If you do it before 20.00 friday, I’ll make sure they’ll notice.

When Fast Compay writes about the site it starts by asking the question: ”But will it work”. Let’s do everything we can to make sure it does. OK?

Update: Yes, this initiative seems to be built upon the Ushahidi platform. Way to go!

Update: Åtta månader senare hittar Mashable tjänsten. Bra, bättre sent än aldrig!

26 thoughts on “Harassmap – a sadly needed service”

  1. Hey all of you fantastic people! I can’t really put words to the feelings this gives me. It’s a mix of hope for humanity, happiness that “social media” is being used in a such a concrete, constructive and useful manner and awe over what can be achieved with little means as long as people work together.

    I used to work at Hyper Island, which was involved (and maybe still is?) in the YLVP program, and seeing that I was an ever so small part of planting the seed that now is growing in Egypt makes me proud. I’m really looking forward to seeing what amazing stuff you will come up with in the future.

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  2. We are in very start of the era of internet – and its sharing possibilities will reach further than anyone of us can realize today. Driving forces will find a way easier than just a couple of years ago. Imagine this service with Location Based Services, Augmented reality and more….

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  3. In these times when so many talks about how evil people can be anonymous on Internet and how much harassments there is on Internet it’s really nice to see that you use Internet to make your community a better place.

    With the HarassMap you are not only helping your community. You are also helping making Internet a better place and are giving us that protect an open Internet new arguments.

    You rock!

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  4. Dear Team behind harassment.org,

    Thank you for sharing this valuable information. From now on I will try to keep an eye on your developments. I am sure your findings will be valuable not only for Egypt but also for all sorts of similar projects around the world that will develop as a beneficial consequence of your best practice.

    With deep respect for your efforts and kind regards,
    Annika Beijbom

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  5. Good job!

    This is exactly what the internet should be used for as I see it. When used like this, the web is such a fantastic tool against oppression of all sorts.

    Even though every single harassment is just as horrible for the person affected, it is first when someone collects the bigger picture, that the world gets to grow an understanding of the situation. And when there is a bigger picture, every single incident gets just as important.

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  6. Good job!

    This is exactly what the internet should be used for as I see it. When used like this, the web is such a fantastic tool against oppression of all sorts.

    Even though every single harassment is just as horrible for the person affected, it is first when someone collects the bigger picture, that the world gets to grow an understanding of the situation. And when there is a bigger picture, every single incident gets just as important.

    Reply
  7. Amazing. This initiative gives me goose bums, and it shows the greatness of social media. It’s not just something we do for fun but it can acutally change the world and peoples life. I wish you the best of luck with this site and project, in creating a more equal and better society. I wish you success, and hope that your case will make it around the world, as a role model for others.

    Kind regards,

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  8. Such a great example of collaborative empowerment and the true strength of the social media universe.
    Best of luck and thank you for being the inspiration of the week. Keep going.

    /Frida.

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  9. Aggregating information enables people to see “the big picture” and draw their own conclusions. If coupled with a platform for communication such as social media you will be in a better position to change a fundamental aspect of a society.

    Data fragments enable aggregation. Aggregation enables analysis and analysis is the starting point for a discussion.

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  10. Totally amazing and a great example of what the mobile and digital world can do to change not only business but also values of people.

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  11. A verry good idea, but I see many piles of problems.
    Misreporting is most obvious. How do we trust the reports?
    To few reports will cover up for those who denies the problem. HM might be used as evidence.
    Those in their weekest position can’t report since they are not allowed to own equipment to report.
    Egypt has held women who has been physically sexuall abused imprisoned to protect them since islamist punish women who have been “pested” by abuse.
    72 percent of those who is said to have been harrashed wear hijab. You can’t be an islamist women at the same time question men’s behavior. Men stands above to their belief.
    To just mention a few problems with this project…
    I would like someone to address those kinds of problem with the project.

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  12. This is excellent work. :) While it makes me really sad that it is needed, knowing that you willingly spend the most valuable currency these days, your own time, on creating a platform for showing everyone the scope and severity of the problem makes me feel happy and hopeful.

    Aggregating data like this, showing people that they are not alone and providing avenues for contact and collaboration, shows the power of the network at its finest.

    Thanks for the inspiration!

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  13. Great service! I would make sure to find partnerships with tv-shows targeting criminals on the loose. I would also make a quarterly report with local infographics and pitch these to local news media continuously. And as embeddable slideshows to local blogs.

    Also, create a blogger badge campaign revolving around a traffic portal. If you blog and support the map, you should be able to show your engagement off. And the portal should benefit from the traffic by sending it back to those who contribute the most.

    But what to do when attacked? This type of information could be aggregated by crowdsourcing, maybe using torrent technology and smart tags, or as an Quora-inspired portal.

    Just some ideas for improving an already great service!

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  14. I’m very impressed! Cairo has a history of fighting harassment through social media (@waelabbas), but this takes it to a new level!

    I will give more input when I have understood more how it’s working..

    Jocke: dont forget to say Hi to my friends Sara Eldemerdash, Wael Abbas and all the other YLVP:s from me!

    Reply
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