Within the framework of the GIVRE project, we developed HEDY, a prototype of a transfeminist digital technology designed through a participatory design process carried out in collaboration with Chayn Italia, a feminist organization working to address gender-based violence through digital tools and collaborative practices.
HEDY emerges from the dialogue between academic research and activist practices, with the aim of imagining welcoming digital spaces for all subjectivities, free from the profiling and surveillance logics that characterize many commercial platforms. The project is named after Hedy Lamarr, a pioneer of the technology underlying modern Wi-Fi.
During the workshops, participants collectively contributed to defining the platform’s key features and guiding principles: anonymity without the need to provide personal data, the absence of notifications and engagement-driven mechanisms, the use of independent servers, attention to environmental sustainability, and the possibility for users to establish shared rules within discussion spaces.
Rather than a finished technological product, HEDY is conceived as a research and experimentation device, exploring a different vision of digital technology—one that is not oriented toward data extraction or attention maximization, but toward the creation of respectful, accessible, and self-determined digital environments.
The development of the mockup represents an important milestone within the GIVRE project. Alongside investigating forms of gender-based violence in digital environments, the project also works toward the practical development of alternative technological imaginaries and infrastructures, co-created with the communities involved in the research process and in dialogue with advocacy organizations such as Chayn Italia.
To view the full HEDY mockup, you can download the document at the following link: https://givre.eu/en/mock-up/
