Manuals with a gender perspective
From Gender and Tech Resources
This HowTo is still largely Work In Progress.
So far it lists some questions, we should take into account when drafting manuals about privacy and digital security from a gender perspective. On the other hand it aims at becoming a comprehensible resource list of collectives and organisations working on the production of manuals around privacy and digital security with a gender perspective.
Before producing a new manual some questions you should ask yourself
- Don't reinvent the wheelǃ Are you duplicating upstream work?
- If a similar manual is already availableː Who's behind it? Is it a long-term project or a one shot one? Can you continue or complement their work?
- Who's the public and what are the objectives ? What are their security & technical levels?
- Will your manual will be more about tools and how to configure those, or will it be more about threat modeling and/or behavioral processes?
- Under which license will you distribute it and which rights will you grant third parties (access, use, copy, remix, etc)?
- How will you maintain it? This encompass questions about frequency of updates needs depending of the tools and processes you will detail, and about processes you will run to engage your community in updating contents with you.
- How will you get feedback and peer review from readers? Will you be able to include all the feed back? (Some criteria will deal withː correctness, completeness, up to date). Remember to always indicate the last date the manual has been updated/released.
- How will you achieve or not translation & translatability of your manual? Which type of platforms will you use for achieving the translation? Will you achieve also cultural translation for instance?
- Will you provide further support to the readers such as a contact mail or a hotline?
- How will you ensure that your contents are ethical, inclusive and trans-queer-feminist "approved"?
List of collectives and organisations achieving privacy and security manuals with a gender perspective
- Association for Progressive Communications - 'Take back the tech'
Linkː https://www.takebackthetech.net/
Licenseː Copyleft
Languageː English, French, Spanish
Take Back The Tech is a global campaign that connects the issue of violence against women and information and communications technology (ICT). It aims to raise awareness on the way violence against women is occurring on ICT platforms such as the Internet and mobile phones, and to call for people to use ICT in activism to end violence against women. It was initiated by the Association for Progressive Communications, Women's Networking Support Programme, in 2006. Since then, the campaign has been taken up and organised by individuals, collectives and non-governmental organizations in at least 24 countries. The platform includes various manuals and howtos such asː
- The "know more section" which list specific information regarding types of Violence Against Women such as Black mail, cyberstalking and hate speech.
- In 2015 they have released with Just Associates (JASS) Southern Africa and Women's Net the following manualː ICTs for Feminist Movement Building: Activist Toolkit
How do we tell our own stories and make ourselves heard? How do we tell stories that empower and inspire, and challenge mainstream stories that tend to silence, erase women’s lives, experiences and voices? How do we communicate with each other and with people beyond our movements? What is the best way to develop messages that reach out to people and make our movements bigger? What tools make the most sense for our context and capacity? How can we communicate safely and securely in a world that has become increasingly risky for activists and women’s rights activists online and offline?
- Chayn.org - 'Stay safe'
Linkː http://chayn.co/tools/
Licenseː Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license
Languageː English
CHAYN is an open-source project that leverages technology to empower women against violence and oppression so they can live happier and healthier lives. Running solely on the passion of skilled volunteers, Chayn leverages technology to address the problems women face today. They are also a pro bono service to charities who work with vulnerable women.
- How to build your own domestic violence case without a lawyer is based on their experience from working with survivors of domestic abuse and their realisation that women can often not have access to legal aid/help because they are either very depressed, it’s too difficult for them to think their way around the legal jargon, they cannot physically approach a lawyer and increasingly, there is no legal aid or counsel is too expensive. Irrespective of whether someone wants to take legal action (criminal, divorce, child custody or asylum) – collecting and presenting evidence is critical. - In the next months they will release the manual 'How Someone Can Track You Online And Offline – And What You Can Do About It' that deals with issues faced by women that face stalking and invasion of privacy by abusers. The guide addresses how to avoid being tracked online and offline (http://chayn.co/staying-safe/).
- CommunityRED - '9 Ways to Dodge Trolls: A Feminist’s Guide to Digital Security'
Linkː https://medium.com/thelist/9-ways-to-dodge-trolls-a-feminists-guide-to-digital-security-471f66b98c79
Licenseː Not specified
Languageː English
This short manual offer to those feminists or allies who dare to publish any troll-life-ruining content a few ways to protect themselves.
- Crash Override network - 'So You’ve Been Doxed: A Guide to Best Practices'
Licenseː Not specified
Languageː English
This anti-online hate task force, staffed by former targets, provides resources, outreach, and support to combat mob hatred and harassment. They have drafted a manual for everyone, including those curious about doxing and those who have already been targeted, the following is a primer on the realities, pathology, and personal solutions for this particularly nasty form of online harassment.
- Donestech.net - 'Comic Lela'
Linkː http://donestech.net/
Licenseː Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike - No Commercial
Languageː Spanish, Catalan, English
- Comic Lela: A comic for kids and grown ups available in spanish, catalan, english about free software and free culture (http://www.donestech.net/files/English_LELA_comic.pdf)
- Kit de formacion Genero, Tic y Activismoː A compilation of articles in Spanish about how to link gender, activism and a tactical use of ICT (http://www.donestech.net/files/KIT_CAST_5.pdf)
- Guia didàctica per a la formació en perspectiva de gènere i interculturalitat: A toolkit in catalan for telecentres about how to provide trainings to ICT that take into account gender and cultural diversityː (http://www.donestech.net/ca/guia_didactica)
Donestech.net is a cyberfeminist activist research and action collective that investigates the specificities of the relations of women in/with ICT, enhance access of women to technology, creates networks and incorporate/experiment technologies in their research processes and in their technoactivist practices. Comic Lela wants to be a teaching resource, artistic, media and awareness to promote sustainable and radical use of technologies by women.
- FemTechNet - 'Addressing anti-feminist violence online'
Linkː http://dmlcompetition.net/proposals/addressing-anti-feminist-violence-online/
Licenseː Not specified
Languageː English
This project is housed at the Arizona State University and is being currently developed by the network of feminist academics FemTechNet to support women that experiences harassment online to respond. The central focus of this proposal is the development of educational and informational resources that will enable educators and advocates to ensure that connected learning and engagement can proceed even in the face of hostility and harassment. Connected learning breaks down if feminists and women of all ages feel unsafe in digital spaces; we can’t end online harassment, but we can ensure that everyone has the tools necessary to maximize the safety of learners and their data.
FemTechNet has been a leader in online and distributed education with the highly successful Distributed Online Collaborative Course (DOCC). In addition to extensive presence within accredited institutions, the DOCC includes community courses and self-directed learners who access the resources, materials, tools, and communities online. With these experiences in virtual, blended, and face-to-face classrooms, FemTechNet is uniquely situated to be able to educate and serve online feminist learning communities. We have a well-developed content structure, including high-quality video dialogues, as well as a system for holding teach-ins and open online office hours. Our distributed model of online education also facilitates peer-to-peer connections, thereby strengthening and expanding the level of communal engagement possible with this project.
- Safe Hub Collective - 'DIY Guide to feminist Cybersecurity'
Linkː https://tech.safehubcollective.org/cybersecurity/
Licenseː Not specified
Languageː English
This guide is intended to be a comprehensive and accessible introduction to some of the most valuable cybersecurity tools available. There’s a lot of information here, so it can get a bit overwhelming! Feel free to read each section at your own pace: there’s no obligation to read through the whole guide and install every piece of tech we recommend.
- Tactical technology collective - 'Zen and the art of making tech work for you'
Linkː https://gendersec.tacticaltech.org/wiki/index.php/Complete_manual
Licenseː Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Languageː English (future translations are previewed)
Tactical Technology Collective (in the framework of its one year project “Securing Online and Offline Freedoms for Women: Expression, Privacy and Digital Inclusion”) has released in September 2015 a manual tackling some privacy and security issues from a gender perspective. It is the result of a collaborative effort that has involved our growing community of women and trans* activists, human rights defenders and technologists. The manual was created in response to our community’s requests for ideas and guidance on topics they needed, but couldn’t find elsewhere and has been written and reviewed by over 20 women coming from 19 different countries. The current content focuses on two overlapping issues: First, how can we craft appropriate online presences (or a series of them) that strengthen our ability to communicate and work online safely?; Secondly, how can we collaboratively create safe online and offline spaces that enable our communities to share, collaborate, and communicate safely?
The manual grew out of the 2014 Gender and Technology Institute, organised by Tactical Technology Collective and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Until next January 2016, we hope to achieve a better understanding of the readers audience, their background and needs and also to gather through this extended community more feed back about the manual in order to get a better grasp of the dimensions that are missing and which are the other tools, processes, readings and cases studies that should be added. We hope to have it translated, edited and printed in 2016.
- Digital Security tools and tactics for the LGBTI community in the Middle East and North Africa
Linkː https://securityinabox.org/en/lgbti-mena
Licenseː Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Languageː English
̟̇̇̇̇̇̇̇̇̆̈Digital Security tools and tactics for the LGBTI community in the Middle East and North Africa was designed and written in collaboration with LGBTI human rights defenders from the region. The guide serves as a contextualised introduction to the Security in-a-Box toolkit for human rights defenders, produced by Tactical Technology Collective and Front Line Defenders, expanding on its content to include important information, tools and tips particularly relevant to the LGBTI community in this region region, as identified by members of the community in workshops carried out in 2012.
- Women's Rights Campaigning Info-activism Toolkit
Linkː https://womensrights.informationactivism.org/
Licenseː Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Languageː English, Hindi, Arabic and Swahili.
The Women's Rights Campaigning: Info-Activism Toolkit is a guide for women's rights activists, advocates, NGOs and community-based organisations who want to use technology tools and practices in their campaigning.