Anti-violence project at ASU is finalist in digital media competition

Jacqueline Wernimont, assistant professor of English at ASU
January 12, 2015

A project by researchers at Arizona State University has been named a finalist in the Digital Media and Learning Competition 5, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and administered by HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory) through a grant to the University of California, Irvine.

The Addressing Anti-Feminist Violence Online proposal submitted by Jacqueline Wernimont on behalf of FemTechNet, a feminist collaborative network, is competing for a share of $1.2 million that will be awarded as part of the “Trust Challenge” initiative.

Alice Daer is also a part of the collaborative team that authored the grant. Wernimont and Daer are both assistant professors in the Department of English, within ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Public voting will determine three People’s Choice Awards of $5,000 each to be used for technology needs of the applying organization/institution. All of the finalists' proposals will go on to compete for full funding, independent of the public voting results.

“Building trust and resiliency for women and feminists online is a critical and timely project, and we are delighted that our proposal has progressed to the final round of the #‎dmltrust competition,” said Wernimont.

Wernimont, Daer and their collaborators propose to gather and develop “best practices” for responding to threats of online violence. They will publish tools and tips in a digital book format, and will host in-person, as well as virtual, events to produce and share the resources.

To view and vote for the ASU team’s proposal, visit: dmlcompetition.net/proposals/addressing-anti-feminist-violence-online.

“According to a recent Pew Study, one in four women have experienced online stalking or sexual harassment,” wrote Wernimont and Daer in their proposal. “Much of this violence has been perpetrated online, but threats like these can move into offline, ‘real’ life.”

More information is available on Wernimont’s blog and on the Digital Media and Learning Competition 5 Web site.