The GIVRE project
GIVRE aims to explore practices of resistance, resilience and empowerment in digital spaces against all forms of online violence.
First, it will analyze the dynamics behind violent and abusive practices on social media in Italy; second, it will shed light on the practices of resilience (e.g. adaptation, flanking, vigilantism) and empowerment (development of digital and technical skills, advocacy, building alliances) to build nondiscriminatory online social media spaces.
GIVRE aims to carry out a systematic study about online gendered violence and the related practices of resilience and empowerment, using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
A mixed methods approach is needed in order to probe the multiple forms of perceived and experienced abuse that manifest in online spaces, with regard to different subjectivities (women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, second generations); at the same time, it is crucial to analyze the strategies and tactics (e.g. modifying their privacy settings on social media, managing the profile pictures, developing particular strategies of visibility) that subjects and communities adopt to respond to potential or actual threats as forms of resilience.
The project pursues the following goals:
- To advance knowledge and understanding of the relationship between digital technologies and gender;
- Develop a digital self-defense toolkit for users to address abusive behavior in digital spaces;
- Map best practices and collect policy and design guidelines to address online gender-based violence and promote empowerment;
- consolidate and formalize a national action-research network that can provide policy recommendations and design guidelines for safer digital platforms and promote international collaborations.
Research activities conducted through a mixed-methods approach include several steps.
To explore the ways in which users of different platforms perceive and experience gender-based violence in digital spaces, qualitative interviews will be conducted. The aim is also to explore the main patterns and dynamics of gender-based violence acted out online, the most frequently cited platforms associated with violent behaviors, and related resistance tactics.
The second activity will focus on conducting focus groups with “privileged witnesses” working in the field of anti-violence (women workers, advocates, activists) and in the governance of online spaces (authority agencies, policy-makers). This phase aims to compare ideas, intervention approaches and visions on online gender-based violence and the work currently being done in Italy to address it.
In addition to the focus groups, participatory design workshops are planned with anti-violence experts, artists and ordinary users to enable collective brainstorming on the empowering imaginaries surrounding digital technologies. This phase aims to design the construction of digital spaces that can be empowering for all, and particularly for vulnerable subjectivities.
Finally, a national survey – the first quantitative study in Italy on the phenomenon – will be conducted, administered to a statistically representative sample of Italian adults, with the aim of investigating the presence of online gender-based violence and related experiences, including resilience and empowerment practices.
