Two are in development at the Integrated Innovation Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. One, NightOwl, is actually a party-planning app that lets students upload guest lists, photos and a playlist, while also keeping tabs on suspicious activity. Guests can send an alert to the host or to other guests to alert them of potentially dangerous situations.
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The first one doesn't really seem that useful. I mean, I guess you could use it to warn friends at a party of a lecherous guy wandering around, but if someone is making advances on someone who is unwilling, I'm not going to just message the host; I'm going to go do something about it. I will intercept that man myself. I'm not gonna wait for someone else to do it. Then it might be too late.
The second one seems more useful. A few clicks and a message goes to all my friends that I need help getting home. I mean, not that it would put them in danger while they are trying to get to me or anything. Nothing like that at all. It might be more useful if it sent to the police.
I'm a bit confused on the idea of Night Owl. Sure guest lists can be uploaded, but the hubbub of parties makes it almost impossible to keep track of every person that's there, especially college parties.
Another problem with this article is that it pins sole responsibility of the host. Law enforcement is nowhere to be found. I'm not suggesting that potential assaults need to result in arrest, but if there is a concern it's better to be safe than sorry. Of course, college parties often want to keep the police away, so I understand why contacting law enforcement isn't the most desirable solution; but someone's safety and possibly life is at risk. Who cares if you get collared for underage drinking? At least you've prevented something awful.
Another problem is that if the host is getting multiple messages at once, or is intoxicated, or both, these apps would not be as effective.
I'm glad that these apps exist, because combating college sexual assault in any form should be a top priority, but I think that we have a long way to go in terms of successful and practical devices.
This article made me want to sing out with joy and simultaneously scream my frustrations at our smart phone obsessed generation! I will start by saying that I am happy that people recognize the perilous situation women and men have been facing with sexual assault and rape on college campus'. I am tickled to no end that people are actively trying to solve this problem. But an app is just not the way to go. And it's not to say that the apps are useless by any means, though I'm still not sure how the whole guest list check in thing is at all useful. My point of contention really comes from the comment in the article:
"This is not a social problem that we're going to sit around and wait for other people to fix,"
This is a social problem 100%. People need to stop assaulting and raping other people. That's the fact. This has been happening before college campus' even had problems with sexual violence. And quite frankly I see theses apps as becoming another way for people to blatantly ignore what's right or wrong and additionally find more ways to shirk the legal system. I am sincerely glad that we are actively trying to find ways to make social gatherings more safe and think that the app being connected with law enforcement in some way is incredibly useful. I also see the use in being able to identify who someone came to a party with friends and using the app as a resource to reconnect with friends when one gets separated.
BUT this brings me up to my next and my main point of disagreement with this article, and that's the fact that these apps blatantly encourage people to be bystanders and duck any type of social responsibility! If you see someone in an uncomfortable situation step in! Don't risk your safety of course (grab a buddy or two if you're uncomfortable) but don't brush off your social responsibility to someone else just because they they came to a party with someone else. What if the person they came to the party with left? Or is raging drunk and vitally useless? You then basically handed off a problem to someone who may not be in any state of mind to do anything. If you're willing to use an app to communicate that someone is having trouble and may need help, then you should be able to try and safely intervene as well. The bystander effect is an epidemic we should all be working towards eradicating. Not providing people more means to be passive in the fight towards social change and betterment!
I always get really sensitive about these types of topics, just because I feel like they're so incredibly relevant to our age range that I want everybody to be educated on the topic.
While I do feel like this is a relatively good idea for people who might be too afraid to stand up and do something, its still a mediocre solution when compared to either assisting the victim of sexual assault more personally. For some reason putting such a serious issue at the forefront of something like an app just seems like were somewhat desensitizing the seriousness of the issue, or putting it in a far less important context.
The fact is that sexual assault has to be addressed at the level of the victim as well as the perpetrator. When we keep simply putting resources into developments for the victim, we are most certainly helping a few people! However, the effects become exponential when we put resources into education and ending sexual assault at the perpetrator level.
The statistics on sexual assault disgust me to no end as a woman and as a human being in general. Sexual assault is such a present fear in this society that growing up as a child, I was taught how to hurt people twice my size, to carry a knife at night, and never go anywhere by myself.
Carnegie Mellon's party scene seems relatively safe in comparison to other schools, but it is still dangerous if people are under the influence of substances. It is wonderful that people are attempting to reduce sexual assault with these apps, but they also seem quite useless. Night owl only warns people about dangerous situations, but it's often quite obvious when danger is present. The second app, while it sounds good, would require everyone to wear wristbands. That is hard to accomplish without fees and annoyed party-goers. Plus, what if the host doesn't notice his or her band is lighting up? What is the person in trouble is unconscious?
I appreciate the effort to no end. I would love to feel safe at all times of the day but these apps are too dependent on smart phones and sobriety.
The major issue with apps like Circle of 6 is that it requires action to be effective. In many cases of assault or rape, the victim is incapacitated. As in, they cannot execute "just a couple of taps". There are web services out there that allow you to tell the app how long you expect to be out, and will text you periodically (and require a text back) to prevent a notification text from being sent out to your emergency contacts. So in the event of incapacitation, the system still works.
Also, as Brennan was saying, the article's presentation of these potential life-saving apps comes across as very cavalier, as though any other "lifestyle" app were being discussed. It's attitudes like this that allow matters like assault and rape prevention to go for so long without being properly discussed.
While I see hess apps as good measures, I don't really see them as really being effective at stopping or deferring sexual assault as much as it is intended to.
While college students do generally have their smartphones attached at their hip at all times, and probably would be able to respond via smartphone, the app system defers the problem onto the host, who might not take action because they don't know the perpetrator, are scared to, or are too drunk themselves to respond appropriately.
Let's face it theres is no better solution in a situation like this than speaking up as a friend, or as a group. When it comes to sexual assault there is no adequate substitution for direct action.
I think this app addresses the bystander effect really well by being able to anonymously speak out to let everyone know there's a problem, specifically by telling the host who has the most control over any party, and as such has the most authority to act. However, the problems that still remain are the potential lack of action despite the message, the crazy and hectic atmosphere of college parties that make it difficult for hosts to keep track of guests, and the fact that many people might not want to use the app, as they might see it as paranoia or a useless precaution.
The purpose of these apps and of this article is quite clear, we need some way to combat sexual assault in a college setting. The delivery and usefulness of these apps is somewhat less clear. Let's say that someone feels like they are in danger of being assaulted or just uncomfortable, they're gonna send a message to the host of the part. Who's to say that the host isn't preoccupied or not looking at their phone, or maybe even a target themselves? I understand that these apps are being made with great intentions, but unless they are 100% fool proof, one cannot expect results to be very promising.
I completely agree that using apps aren't the best solution, however using the apps can be helpful in a number of ways. First of which is helping bystander who normally wouldn't do much at least do something. For the first app, NightOwl, it could potentially be helpful if you alert someone you know or think could do something about the situation. For second app, the bracelet is only useful is it given to a designated sober person and you know they could something. Personally, it'd be great to combine the two apps and link guest lists to social media profiles. Then use either the facebook or google facial recognition system to identify people when reporting them. The app would then make notes and keep a record of each thing making a log about that person. So, in the future when making a guest list, a host could get a warning or flag about some people on the list. Additionally, friends could work with the people who have been flagged to help make them better people. I haven't brought up other flaws and issues as well as positives since they have mostly been mentioned by others already.
The idea of warning friends with the one app does not see logical. If their os some one at a party that does not look right I could txt the host or any of my friends to tell them about the situation. Since phones already have txting the idea of having an app that does the same thing does not make sense. It seems like this app would be more useful of the message went to the police and alerted them of an unsafe situation. While i think the concept of creating an app that will keep people safe at campus parties it is very hard to create an app that can keep people physically safe. If someone is getting sexually harassed and they have there phone they can already call some one of send a txt.
I appreciate the idea of these apps but I'm not sure how alerting only the host is helpful in a time sensitive situation such as rape. A potential rape case isn't going to wait to see if the host will figure out a way to prevent it, it'll just happen. Also, I understand that it is the host's responsibility to make sure all guests are being safe and having a good time but if a situation like rape comes up, chances are they won't really know what to do or won't make it in time to prevent something from happening. These apps are great in that they are giving people a way of doing something to prevent things like that from happening, but unfortunately, they also aren't really that useful in helping someone prevent a bad situation.
I like the idea of the apps existence but I feel it does nothing more than allow people to stand up without bring attention to themselves. Which I understand is a big issue of why most people don't stand up. And after the many talks we had from Haven during orientation week and growing up it feel nothing more than a cop out when there are so many other options to helping to prevent a situation that just doesn't sit well for people. Just pulling people away for a simple "you ok?" conversation is just as easy as clicking a button on the app. I understand technology is designed to make our lives a little easier but it just feels a bit sad life has come to this where apps like this need to be created and on our phones.
I am really grateful and appreciate that people care about sexual harassment and try to come up with ways to prevent it. I love the idea of people creating apps to serve this needs. I'm still doubt on how effective it is, maybe just because I never actually seen one myself. I think it would also be very useful if this app develops and connects directly to police. But then again, I was wondering if may people send the messages out all at the same time, can the system handle it? Can it still gives the right information? I don't know, I think I would really love to see an article that talks about how effective this app is, more like a review, just to better better ideas of it and how it actually works and I think that would be something really interesting to read.
I have conflicting feelings on these. On one hand, I'm really glad that people are recognizing sexual assault as a valid issue and using their skills to help prevent it, but on the other hand I'm wondering why we as a college community have not found the ability to stop an assault from happening ourselves. The use of a smartphone to accomplish a very human action (keeping someone from getting hurt) is a somewhat dehumanizing idea. What happens when students become very used to relying on such an app...and then their phone dies? Are they going to be wary of actually approaching the host or the attacker without their technology to hide them? Is our basic human compassion contingent upon who sees what we're doing?
Like I said, I am glad that these kinds of apps exist and that we take the reasons for them seriously, I just wish that they didn't come with some of the negatives I can see arising in the future.
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