These days, tech companies constantly have to admit that they are not fully equipped to deal with all of the ways bad actors can use their platforms or technologies to cause harm – and the ways their product can disproportionately harm particular groups of people. The Mobius Project is a knowledge and research platform that provides practical ways to incorporate abusability testing into existing product life cycles and teams, drawing from existing expertise from privacy, security, scholars, and digital activists. This platform will gather a community of people interested in combating platform abuse, tools and frameworks that product teams can integrate into their software development project life cycle, and a searchable database of platform abuses to make it easier to identify product risks.
Track: Cities and Communities
Impactify
Impactify is an app that aims to mobilize young people for social or environmental justice action by (1) educating them on the most urgent societal challenges and (2) showing them concrete, effective ways to be a changemaker. We believe anyone can be a changemaker. Our research showed that GenZ wants to be part of the solution, not the problems (climate crisis, rising inequality, racism, sexism etc.). However, most young people do not know how concretely they can contribute to change. This should not be an obstacle for social justice action, as there are so many different ways anyone can make a difference and stand up for human dignity and the planet. Impactify’s solution will not only raise awareness on societal and environmental issues, but also suggest effective social engagement opportunities ranging from advocacy work to volunteering.
Viva
60% of Americans are suffering from chronic diseases, of which 80% are preventable by a healthy lifestyle. With all of the current options available for health and wellness, we still aren’t preventing disease. Why? The current options are prescriptive, focused on one or two areas of health, and lack a sense of camaraderie and accountability. Enter Viva: a solution to shape the future of preventative health. Viva community centers empower urban women to reduce chronic stress and gain self-awareness through holistic health lifestyle management. Viva’s tech-enabled wellness clubs offer holistic health & wellness education, online and offline resources and community-building to help shift mindsets and create sustainable behavior change. Viva is providing a personalized, accessible and social way to find the lifestyle that makes you the healthiest and happiest version of yourself.
Seminar
At first sight, people begin to form judgements about each other in their heads based on appearance, race, gender, and other superficial factors. These are called “implicit biases”, and they affect the ways we think, act, and perceive the world around us. From gender discrimination in the workplace to racial profiling in our communities, many of the issues we face as a country stem from the consequences of our implicit biases. Seminar is a platform intended to be used in the high school classroom to address these biases in an engaging and unique manner. Through a mobile app, students are allowed to converse with their peers through a model that facilitates productive conversations without the inhibitions of superficial influences. Through proprietary pairing and impact algorithms, Seminar learns about the community it is deployed in and improves the student experience over time.
CoopNet
CoopNet’s vision is to create a digital financing model for shared housing, leveraging the community activation of crowdfunding to bring together residents and investors who believe in the virtues of cooperative living. Not only would such an online platform provide a legal, regulated, and contractually sound method for cooperatives to access financing, it offers the flexibility needed to scale across different property types and urban markets. Every cooperative housing venture financed via CoopNet would create immediate and lasting benefits for local communities: reducing overall housing costs, offering an alternative and communal style of living, and creating opportunities for residents to shape their communities rather than depending on governments, banks, or real estate developers. By June 2020, CoopNet plans to facilitate the formation of approximately 14 cooperative housing units, connecting over 70 local residents, and saving residents an estimated $320,000 in cumulative housing costs, with greater savings expected as the co-ops continue and CoopNet expands.
Qloak
As a result of the current social and political climate, the LGBTQ+ community has found it increasingly difficult to find safe spaces. A study by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) shows that hate-driven violence often occurs in the privacy of communities, homes, workplaces, and shelters. By providing knowledge of spaces that have been proven to support the LGBTQ+ community, and that can serve its unique needs as necessary, Qloak is removing the burden from community members who may struggle to find their footing in heteronormative environments. Qloak serves as a hub integrating queer spaces featuring such categories as Work (jobs), Play (bars and entertainment), Spend (businesses), and Resources (doctors, counselors, etc). Cultivating knowledge of these spaces is necessary in order to foster a sense of belonging and security.
Let’s learn Mixteco
Indigenous communities are an important part of Latino migration to the U.S., but they have been historically overlooked. An estimated 100,000 indigenous people from Mexico, primarily Mixtec, make up the farmworker population in California. A sizeable Mixtec community can be found in Oxnard, Ventura County. There have been attempts by the community to preserve their language, but the number of children learning Mixtec in Oxnard is declining. In addition, the lack of technology used to teach Mixtec creates barriers as well, as youth in the community struggle to see how Mixtec fits in to their tech-centered lives. This project addresses these needs by creating a webpage with teaching resources for the community. By promoting the use of the Mixtec language, the team will bridge the gap between generations and create tighter bonds between members of the community.
Healthy LiPHE
Healthy LiPHE is a readily accessible “one-stop-shop” mobile health application that targets disadvantaged adolescents via a youth-friendly platform. It contains features such as: Clinic Finder, Condom Finder, Sexual Health, Mental Health, Frequently Asked Questions, Ask a Question, and PHE Connect. Existing online resources are neither comprehensive nor youth-friendly and teens may turn to online resources that contain invalid information. Additionally, with the uncertainties surrounding healthcare accessibility, it is imperative now more than ever to provide an equal opportunity for youth to make healthy decisions informed by high quality health information. With these tools readily accessible on the user’s phone, Healthy LiPHE is ideal for last minute decisions, and can lead to better health outcomes in the future. Healthy LiPHE is designed to be comprehensive enough to appeal to both youth with or without prior health education. Through its engaging interface, youth will feel empowered to take control of their health.
nourishAI
According to the 2016-2017 Berkeley Food Institute Annual Report, 40% of all UC students are food insecure. Food security is a right, not a privilege. The current basic needs ecosystem at UC Berkeley is expansive and difficult to navigate as there are over twenty organizations that focus on the topic of food education. Because advisors are few and far between, students must navigate this complex ecosystem alone. Of the 10,000+ food insecure students on the UC Berkeley campus, less than 25% have used the most advertised and accessible resources available to them. nourishAI addresses this problem by using conversational artificial intelligence to help students navigate the complicated food insecurity ecosystem on UC campuses.