No one intends for their product to be used to harass an unsuspecting spouse, or stalk an ex-girlfriend, or financially control a partner, but the reality of not considering inter-personal and domestic violence in our designs means that we can unwittingly hand an abuser a new tool to perpetuate violence. We design our products with the best of intentions, but wind up with features that enable abuse, and fail to seize opportunities to recognize that someone is being victimized and offer support.

As technology continues to become more and more embedded in our financial, personal, and domestic lives, we have the responsibility and obligation to consider those who will be harmed - psychologically and physically - by our decisions. In this workshop, we’ll take a hard look at the many forms of domestic abuse that everyday technology enables, assess the potential risks of our own products, and identify areas where certain user behavior might indicate that they’re perpetrating abuse or being victimized. Then we’ll plan on how to design our products to prevent abuse and support victims.

Primarily for: designers, developers, project managers, and anyone else who has a hand in creating digital products.