About the Study
What is the Digital Footprint Project?
Much of what we know about sexual violence has not yet considered the role of technology and social media. In the last decade, several accounts of sexual violence that have included non-consensual recordings and videos that are distributed online have emerged. Victimization experiences now include a public witnessing and a digital archiving of abuse, but current legal protections often leave survivors with little recourse or support to remove their images from the internet. An understudied phenomenon, this three-part study includes:
Study 1: A media analysis of DDSV cases, including the development of a novel database
Study 2: Written and verbal interviews with stakeholders and subject matter experts
Study 3: Written and verbal interviews with survivors who have a lived experience of DDSV
This study is survivor and trauma-informed, scientifically rigorous, confidential and all of the research activities are voluntary. We offers multiple ways to participate and different kinds of compensation so you can select the opportunity that is right for you.
* Round 2 coming soon! *
The Digital Footprint Project is looking for survivor expertise.
We need your voice and expertise to build respectful (and actually helpful!) research, policies, services and create change for those who are most impacted. We will not ask you to share detailed or specific experiences about trauma-events, instead we are interested in your interactions with institutions, technology and the ways in which this kind of harm impacts long-term recovery.
Eligibility
Are you conversationally fluent in English?
Are you currently 18 years old or older?
Have you ever had a sexual victimization experience that was recorded/photographed and shared online or through text messages/email, without your permission?
Did any part of this experience take place in the United States?
Decide on the kind of participation that is right for you!
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Fill out a short, written interview online (about 30 minutes)
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Speak to someone from the research team about your experience in a one-on-one discussion, through zoom or by phone (about 60-90 minutes). Your camera does not have to be on in order to participate and your face will not be recorded.
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Take part in a group call/zoom with other survivors (about 1 hour, once a month). This option is not part of the research, so no data will be collected from you and it is not compensated at this time. It is by survivors, for survivors only.
This option requires at least two people to sign up, so it may take longer to form. If you are interested in participating, we will do our best to get you connected to at least one other survivor-leader or advocate in the meantime.
You can do these peer-sessions in addition to one of the other two research options.