Web Resources in Creating Awareness on Violence against Women

Web Resources in Creating Awareness on Violence against Women

India has a big economic image, it is considered as one of the most powerful emerging nation to play a big role in the world economy, India is one of the most potential nations of BRICS along with the countries like Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.

During a visit in November 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama described the country as ‘not just a rising power’ but one that has ‘already risen.’ This optimism was clouded by the findings of a poll conducted by Thomson Reuters in 2011, according to which India is the fourth most dangerous country in the world for women.

Statistics shows that within the span of three generations India has systematically targeted and annihilated more than 50 million women from its population. One illustration of this is the skewed sex ratio: the 2011 census found that there are 940 women for every 1000 men, which is sufficient to highlight the atrocities and discrimination that is rooted in our culture. Women are threatened by multiple forms of violence in one or the other five stages of the life cycle: “1) pre-birth, 2) infancy, 3) girlhood, 4) adolescence and adulthood and 5) elderly”, as categorized by WHO.

The most common forms of violence women across the globe has to suffer with are: domestic violence,  sexual harassment, coercive use of contraceptives, female infanticide, prenatal sex selection, obstetric violence and mob violence. They are also forced to experience harmful customary or traditional practices such as honor killings, dowry violence, female genital mutilation, marriage by abduction and forced marriage. Some forms of violence are perpetrated or condoned by the state such as war rape, sexual violence and sexual slavery during conflict,  forced sterilization, forced abortion, violence by the police and authoritative personnel, stoning and flogging, adding to this big list is women trafficking and forced prostitution which is often perpetrated by organized criminal networks. 

Although the violence against women is an age old crime then too it has been seen that no big hue and cry has been made to abolish this disease from our social and cultural roots, women still remains a mute sufferer and an ignorant being about the legislative provisions and procedures she can trust upon and relay for help.

 Revolution in the field of technology both in hard and software has now made it possible to sensitize people against this crime and make women aware of their women-hood and dignity.

As a result of this revolution we now have access to internet and internet based web 2.0 tools, millions of facebook and twitter accounts, increasing use of blogs to publish own stories, countless photos and viral videos, number of conferencing tools are the proof.

There is a rapid change in technology and usage of web resources, until recently there is a prime use of e-mail for communication and collaboration but now we find face book one of the very powerful tool where updating ones status is far more quicker than the any other resources any sensational post takes up a viral shape via sharing we have already seen the power of social media in case of violence against women too.

Web and specifically web 2.0 resources can play a vital role in creating awareness against the violence against women and also can sensitize people regarding the issue, web can also be used to inculcate more human values in the netigens and can also educate our ladies about their rights and can encourage them to say no to the violence against them.

Web 2.0 tools represent a collection of internet based tools that enhance communication through openness and interactive capabilities, web 2.0 technologies continue to evolve at a breath taking pace making connectivity and collaboration easier and faster.

Creating proper awareness regarding violence against women and sensitizing people for the same through web resources basically depend on some of the following points.

 1. Creating an effective dissemination strategy for the cause of women well being.

2. Building awareness for the campaign.

3. Selection of web resources for the proper campaign.

1.      Creating an effective dissemination strategy

Dissemination can be understood in following three ways:

       a. Dissemination for Awareness

According to an online free dictionary awareness means knowledge gained through one's own perceptions or by means of information. This can be assumed that, at the very least, we wish people to be aware of the subject we are interested in to create and propagate information about.

        b. Dissemination for Understanding

There will be a number of groups/audiences that will need to target directly with the dissemination. These groups/audiences have a deeper understanding of the campaign and intention.

c. Dissemination for Action

Action is a change of practice resulting from the adoption of subject, materials or approaches offered for dissemination. These groups/audiences will be those people that are in a position to influence and bring about change within their organizations. These are the groups/audiences that will need to be equipped with the right skills, knowledge and understanding about the subject and work to achieve real change.

2. Building awareness for the campaign

Building or creating awareness about the subject is the second important thing.

Creating awareness means the process and tactics we use to (efficiently and intelligently) achieving awareness.

If we want to achieve success in creating awareness especially through web resources we need to know some of the important issues which should be kept in mind while using web as a source to create awareness.

a.       Identify targets and supporters

Targets are the people who have the direct power to give what we want. They are often officials who have the authority to make policy changes. The target could be a government minister, government organizations, when the target takes action, goal is achieved.

Supporters are people who help achieve the goal by putting pressure on the target. These could be sympathetic politicians, NGO’s or civic organizations that care about our cause

b.      Segment audience

Breaking down audience into smaller groups that share common characteristics is called segmenting, more the segments, more the tailoring of the message to the specific priorities of a group.

c.       Establish a message arc

The message arc is a multi message narrative that takes audience from where they are (not knowing or caring about your cause) to where they ought to be (taking action on behalf of your cause). If the support of the audience is strong, the message arc will be small.  For example, if an MP already supports women’s rights you can ask them directly to support your campaign.

d.      Understand supporters network

 Use of web resources has made it very easy digital to send a message to different audiences, these platforms also make it very easy for audience to send messages to their networks of friends, family, and colleagues. These supporter networks are essential for building more and more audience e.g., if out of 100 followers on Twitter or face book, half of these followers share the messages with their followers, the number of audience could quickly reach thousands of people.

e.               Fine-tune messaging & provide a call to action

Messaging will look different on different web platforms , but some of the important things which should be kept in mind while writing a message campaign are the use of emotion , outrage, shock, or humor  to grab the  audience’s attention . Use of facts and statistics will make the problem specific and will establish authority in defining the problem, next step is to define a solution. People will take action only if they believe your solution will fix the problem and that their action will help to achieve that solution.

Provide a call to action, and make clear what action should the audience take.

f.                Gather Data

One of the nice things about digital media is that it’s easy to track information about the campaign. Tracking data like site hits, feedback,  comments and retweets can help know which messages are most popular and which are not. Here are some tools you can use to gather data.

g.              Choose suitable technology

 To fulfill the purpose of creating awareness about the subject of the campaign it is very essential to know about the web resources available to fulfill the purpose.

3.      Selection of web resources for the proper campaign

Let us now discuss number of synchronous and asynchronous web resources which can help in creating awareness and causing a viral spread of the campaign.

For relevant search on subject google scholar, wikis, authentic websites provide the content ant statistics about the subject, blogger and word press can be used to publish views and discussions

Bookmarks such as diigo, delicious, google bookmarks are very effective resources for saving important sites, annotating and sharing the content, e-mails site such as g mail, yahoo, hotmail, rediff etc. still remains the biggest sources to add contacts and share the matter with them, instant messaging could be effectively done digsby, twitter as micro blogging tool can create viral impact about the campaign.

Facebook is the most popular media to share and sensitize people regarding the issue.

Some tools which can be used to measure the influence of your campaign on the subject are Twtpoll, askitonline, buzzvote which can be used for receiving polls

Photo editors like picasa, fotor, be funcy and photo manager like flickr presentation and word processors as slideshare, empress, sliderocket, zohoshow, google docs, video editor like kaltura, motionbox, moviemasher can be used to prepare effective content including multimedia features and making the subject more heart touching and catering to the cognative as well as the effective domain of the target group.

Web Conferencing tools like Wiziq, blackboard collaborates, zohomeetings, skype can be used to make the subject international and can collaborate and share with the people, government officials, victims and others in the real time.

      This is how all the above mentioned resources can be used to disseminate the awareness among the masses inspiring them to awake, rise and act for the cause of the campaign.

One of the examples of using various web resources with the help of an interactive collage can be seen at thinglink which was shared in various groups and resources on web to create the awareness regarding this social issue.

CONCLUSION

Violence against women is a serious violation of women’s human rights and of direct concern to the public and government. Thus, government and public should play a central part in raising awareness among the masses to prevent this violence. To openly debate this subject is a way to reduce society’s tolerance towards violence against women.

There is still limited knowledge about what web resources are available to spread awareness for violence against women and how to do it, hence the use of proper and powerful web strategy in spreading awareness still remains the key elements for further study.

SUGGESTIONS

1.      Knowledge about web resources and its usage is essential to use web technology for creating awareness.

2.      Proper strategy should be evolved in order to disseminate information to the masses so that required action could be taken.

3.      Text matter and statistics should be gathered from the reliable resources.

4.       Net working should be very strong and wide for proper spread of the campaign.

REFERENCES

1.      Harmsworth, S.  (July 2001). Creating an Effective Dissemination Strateg. Retrieved October 10, 2014 from http://www.innovations.ac.uk/btg/resources/publications/dissemination.pd.

2.      Temple, J.  ( March 9, 2014).  Violence Against Women Hurts Us All.  Retrived October 19, 2014 from http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Violence-against-women-hurts-us-all-5301980.php

3.      Violence against women in India: Culture, Institutions and Eqauality.  (September 29, 2013).  Retrived October 20, 2014 from http://www.newsrecord.co/violence-against-women-in-india-culture-institutions-and-inequality/