Take Back the Tech! online mapping platform

Take Back the Tech!ⁱ campaign (TBTT) started its 2011 campaign calling all people, specially women and girls, to take control of technology to end gender-based violence and introducing a new tool: the TBTT mapping platform. This interactive map based on the Ushahidi platform allows internetⁱ users to share their stories, local news and personal experiences of gender-based violence using technology.

The map allows campaigners and policyⁱ-makers to get a sense of the scale of gender-based violence online, see which are the most prevalent abuses and come up with strategies for addressing the problem.

The TBTT map organise technology-related violence against womenⁱ into five broad categories according to the type of violence against women, which are:

1. Culturally justified violence against women which includes cases where culture or religion is used as a reason to justify, ignore or accept acts of violence against women, or when technology plays a role in creating a culture of violence against women.
2. Online harassment and cyberstalking which constitutes one of the most visible forms of technology-related VAW.
3. Intimate partner violence where technology is used in acts of violence and abuse in intimate or spousal relationships.
4. Rape and sexual assault where technology plays a role in tracking the movement and activities of the victim, to provide location information, posting of false solicitation for sexual violence or when the violence continues because of digital recording and distribution of the violence.
5. Violence targeting communities includes cases where communities face targeted online attacks and harassment because of their gender or sexual identity and political views.

The map also monitors four other broad categories such as the act of violation (what the abuser or violator did), the harm faced by women survivor, the technology platform which was implicated or used in the incidence of VAW, and an abuser or violator ranging from known and unknown persons, to state and non-state actors.

In collaboration with the local campaigners, the map was translated into a number of languages, including French, Spanish, Bosnian, Lugandan, Arabic, Urdu and Portuguese.

The TBTT map was initiated by the Association for Progressive Communications, and built in cooperation with the One World Platform for Southeast Europe (OWPSEE) from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia; Colnodo from Colombia; Rede Mulher from Brazil; Take Back the Tech! Lebanon, Lebanon; Bytes for All from Pakistan; Women's Legal Bureau (WLB) and WeDpro from the Philippines; and Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) from Uganda.