Posts

Women's 'Safety Load'

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In this post, we will discuss how a womans sense of safety is impacted on in various different ways. We are examining this to inform how we might develop a virtual safe space, and so that it may be possible to produce a design grounded in actual lived experience.  Womens's safety load, refers to the significant mental burden women carry due to consistent vigilance, taking preventative measures against potential threats like assault or harassment in public spaces.  This includes strategizing routes, assessing risks (e.g., keeping keys as weapons, avoiding earphones), and dealing with societal expectations, all while navigating daily activities like walking home or using public transport. This encompasses physical safety (avoiding danger) and workplace safety (unequal risks with tools/PPE, shift work), highlighting the everyday awareness and actions women take to feel secure, driven by higher risks of violence and the need to manage their environment proactively. Key Aspects of ...
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Male devs

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Men dominate women developer 80/20 percent in digital development teams.  This imbalance is problematic in terms of design. m ale users are unconsciously designed for in favor of women, not deliberately as all developers want to deliver digital products, but by default. Gender bias is a significant and pervasive issue in digital product development. This bias often results in products and services that overlook, underrepresent, or even harm women and gender-diverse individuals, impacting everything from user experience to fundamental safety and access to opportunities.  Key Areas and Examples of Gender Bias Gender bias seeps into digital products through various stages of development, from the initial design assumptions to data collection and algorithmic training.  Algorithmic and Data Bias: AI and machine learning models are trained on vast datasets, which often reflect historical and societal biases. Hiring Tools: Amazon's experimental AI recruitment tool was abandoned ...
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Safe learning environments

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In the last post, an informal discussion led to an overview of first responders work, how personal lives are impacted and some potential solutions were considered. In this post we will go on to consider 'duty of care', and what it means to provide a safe learning environment. Policies will be generalized in regards to institutions, and thought about in terms of first responders from different services.  Safe learning environments will similarly be viewed without mention of specific healthcare organisations but expanded on to examine andragogy (teaching and training of adults), to think about what adults need to feel safe in a learning environment.  We will then go on to examine what we mean by safety, broadening the discourse, thinking about gendered attitudes to safety and what this looks like in real terms (This may form its own post it could be quite broad and extensive).  In the last post we raised some intial questions... Can immersive trauma training feel safe for t...
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Informal conversations : Partners of first responders (overview)

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I met with a partner of a first responder, who had been in the service for over 20 years.  I explained a little about my research and initial experience in encountering some of the issues related to first responders.  I asked questions about how their partners job affected their personal relationship, their home life, their mental health and what some of the solutions might be in easing their exposure to vicarious trauma (VT) also known as secondary trauma.  Their response somewhat aligned with what was already considered such as: 'Empathy burn out' (in which there is a 'splitting' of empathy response) Shift patterns being out of synch with school runs and holidays Mental strain and the real risk of PTSD Limited debriefing support due to the workplace culture or lack of provision Seeing service workers as a 'resource' without consideration of 'human factors' - on the job real life trauma exposure being minimized in preference of service demands The avera...
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Ambulance Service Simulated training research group

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 I was kindly invited to attend the first meet up for the Ambulance Service training research group. I introduced myself as working within healthcare training and immersive research. I explained that although I was not part of the service, I had an interest in virtual reality training development and that I was a developer conversant in Unity Game Engine.   I explained that I was really there to listen to the discourse as I have written a research proposal entitled Shepherd’s Shield. This project focused on designing VR for learners safeguarding… to provide safe learning environment to all users.  I said that, it was my understanding that there is a duty of care to provide a safe learning environment and that there doesn’t seem to be any clear safeguarding design principles when it comes to VR.  I continued to explain that I hoped to better understand what provision we make to protect learners when using VR, specifically when the training experience could be potentia...
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