I543-Final Project

Anti-bullying web services

Eric Cox
Steve Entezari
Andre Franklin
Content
 Social Problem Space
 Survey
 Requirements
 Design Innovations
 Prototyping
 Evaluation
Social Problem Space
 As technology has evolved, so has the mediums
to which people are using to intimidate others
 This evolution has sparked a relatively new trend

across the county called cyber-bullying.

 People can no longer simply walk away from a

bullying scenario without completely removing

themselves from societies; both physical and
virtual
 Psychological phenomena, such as the Bystander

Effect, decrease the likelihood of an intervention

by an outside member of the community
Problem Space cont.
 With the increase in email, SMS, and social media
usage, much attention has been directed towards
cyber-bullying and its effects.
 Victims of cyberbullying have been shown to be
twice as likely to attempt suicide when compared
to those who had not experienced the cyber form
of bullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010).
 The need for our product is focused around
connecting two people who, otherwise, may never
have been connected; cyberbullying
volunteer/resources and a victim of cyberbullying.
Survey Results
 66% of participants were under twenty-nine
 76% of respondents were female
 59% were self-reported extroverts
 100% reported using Facebook
 59% reported using MySpace
 38% reported using Twitter
 48% had bullied others

◦ While 97% knew someone who was being bullied

◦ 100% of participants acknowledged that they do
sympathize with those being bullied
Survey Results (Con’t)
 69% of our participants reported having
younger siblings
 52% of our participants reported having older

siblings
 31% were parents

◦ 76% reported that if they had a kid, they would

expect that child to be more of a “victim” than a
“bully”’
Requirements
 System
◦ The system will scan public messages transmitted
over social media applications for key words or
phrases that are pre-determined as bullying.
 Functional
◦ The system will queue public messages that match the
bullying criteria for further action by volunteers who
monitor the queues.
 User – victim/eVolunteer
◦ The victim will receive a message from the volunteer
containing information and links about “anti-bullying”
strategies and support resources.
 Design Innovations
 eBully leverages the public
information provided by
social networking sites as
the primary source for
message scanning.

Epicenter of
volunteer
activity Instant Message
Metaphor
allows
volunteers to
support each
other.
Prototyping
Evaluation
 Original Prototype
◦ Incorporate ability to escalate an intervention to
contact authorities/parents.
◦ Complete the interface for contacting eBully
directly.
◦ Make reviewing more detailed information about
threads more obvious.
 Revised Prototype
◦ Provide system feedback after each interaction
between the volunteer and the system
Evaluation (con’t)
 Example Scenario
◦ You are a volunteer with eBully, you see a message
from Christian Harmon that you suspect to be
bullying. Investigate the victim's Facebook page for
other messages from Christian Harmon and send
the victim an intervention message (if necessary).
 Evaluation (con’t)
 Two Main Categories
◦ Technology/Performance User Experience Issues
 55%
 Major Areas 4
 Distinguishable areas of
Affordance were not 3
Immediately Present
 Feedback was Missing After Major
Actions (like sending a 2
Medium
message)
◦ Content or Labeling 1 Minor
 45%
 Major Areas 0
 Language Used Not Easily
as age

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Relatable

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 Misinterpreted
om

Affordance/Semiotics (click te
H

In
name instead of review to look
at a victim's Facebook page)
Final High-Fidelity

eBully
http://134.68.138.37/i543/
Questions