Document Type
Conference Paper
Disciplines
Computer Sciences, Social sciences
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Child grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them, therefore building societal resilience against it is of prime importance1. Although progress has been made, it is among the yet unresolved challenges in Ireland (the focus of research). With direct SFI2 training support and using Theory of Change and Design Science as the methods for research and innovation, we have done extensive stakeholder analysis, and we keep doing it further such that a solution is evolved in order to create societal resilience against child grooming, especially in Ireland. Our stakeholder engagement to-date revealed the complexity of the child grooming problem. We conducted interviews and gathered needs statements from a diverse group of stakeholders: 32 so far, who were interviewed for 30 minutes in each session, using five questions and later filling in needs statement form. We used NVivo for coding and analysis. In child exploitation cases, usually involving early grooming, children often display extreme vulnerability (f=26, f being the frequency of finding) and suffer from trauma, mental health, neurodiversity, and communication issues. Challenges in the current process were noted, including investigation delays (f=4). Resource constraints (f=9) were a recurring concern affecting investigations and support services. (Law Enforcement Stakeholder) "We can't investigate our way out of this problem." The inability to identify grooming indicators, and name it, is a critical reporting barrier for caregivers (f=5), professionals (f=6), and children (f=18). Fear (f=16), discomfort with speaking about this sensitive topic (f=6), shame/embarrassment (f=4), lack of trust in agencies (f=12), and cultural stigma (f=2). Desired outcomes by the stakeholders include educating children (f=9) and involving schools (f=5) in teaching about grooming risks. Stakeholders emphasised the need for a relatable online solution (f=9) to help children recognise grooming behaviours. We therefore made changes to our original proposal of solution design evolution, such that schools are now seen as benefactors and can utilise GroSafe resources to educate children about grooming threats. We also acknowledge the challenges social care professionals face in identifying grooming indicators/signs and we recognise the diverse learning needs of all children, and we keep evolving the design for the INFORM/TRAIN functions accordingly. Children and young people will use the GroSafe app because it will offer an engaging and interactive platform where they can learn about grooming in a fun and age-appropriate manner, helping them recognise potential risks and stay safe online and offline. Other stakeholders use the app as a platform to help children and the society as a whole to achieve resilience against child grooming. The platform has three parts: 1. Knowledge Management part in which an ontology of child grooming is being created by the mass collaboration of the stakeholders.
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1 ISPCC (Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children)
2 Science Foundation Ireland
2. Program Management and Services Admin part in which various stakeholder needs are connected to the services of various organisations surrounding grooming, where app users can browse services in a categorised way or type in the AI-enabled chat-box (for service guidance). Also, schools and other stakeholders can collaborate to design and standardise training and competition programs for validation and then educating and training of children under this part. Gamification of the solutions is also done in this part and incentive system and media coverage will be linked to the ratified programs being offered under the app. Example training program by the GroSafe team is designed and will be in the app to guide the production and scaling up of the solutions, working as a seed for the creation and growth of the solutions in the platform by the wider stakeholder community doing limited or mass collaboration to create such solutions. 3. Gaming and training platforms used to implement training and competition solutions Existing platforms will be used, such as Kahoot, Roblox and Fortnite Unreal Engine (for 3d/VR). Among the justifications of app use, for the benefactors: Parents and caregivers will use the GroSafe app because it will provide valuable information on current threats and guidance on how to discuss grooming with children. Teachers will use the GroSafe app because it will offer a comprehensive set of engaging resources and up-to-date lesson plans that cover the latest grooming threat vectors. Social carers will use the GroSafe app because it will equip them with the knowledge and tools to recognise the indicators of grooming effectively, enabling monitoring and identification and ultimately provision of the necessary supports and interventions. Government Departments will use the reporting data from the GroSafe app because it will provide valuable insights on the prevalence and nature of grooming incidents, enabling informed decision-making for appropriate policy, legislation, and resource allocation. Law enforcement (GNPSB, Garda Diversion Unit, National Community Engagement Office, Drug Squad) will use the reporting data from the GroSafe app because it will help them to allocate resources more effectively, and protect children with greater efficiency. The Media Commission, INHOPE3, INSAFE4, ISPCC and Barnardos will use the reporting data and insights from the GroSafe app because it will inform and support their functions. The above-mentioned design (including three parts) is being evolved by participation of stakeholders to achieve their needs according to the needs statements and feedback gained, for example, Grooming Signs document (52 signs) and game Scenarios (six so far) are being created and put forward to stakeholders to feed the KM system, part 1, of the app. Grooming Signs are basis of creating the Scenarios which are basis of creating the game/training for children. Therefore, the Knowledge Management part (part 1 above) feeds the collaboration in the Program Management part (part 2), to create solutions using the existing Gaming and training platforms (part 3). The seed design has been informed by the interviews and has internal approval from the team while the final solution is grown and evolved together with the stakeholders. Among the key finding we use is the importance of working with schools to form gamified educational programs for children such that they understand grooming is actually happening and are more likely to report and shield themselves using the available national services. Acknowledgement: This work was conducted with the financial support of the Science Foundation Our Tech Ireland National Challenge Fund under Grant No. 22/NCF/OT/11158.
Recommended Citation
Thorpe, Christina; Shams, Armin; and Bowden, Matt, "Building Societal Resilience against Child Grooming using Digital Technologies: The Solution Design" (2024). Conference Papers. 5.
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/nsdcon/5
Funder
Science Foundation Ireland
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Publication Details
IC2S2 2024, 10th International Conference on Computational Social Science Philadelphia, USA, July 17-20, 2024, the annual conference of the International Society for Computational Social Science.