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Projects

In today’s digital world, young people face unique challenges when it comes to managing their sexuality and sexual experiences online. It can be hard for them to find reliable guidance and support when dealing with online harms, like technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV). TFSV is an umbrella term that includes harmful practices like sexual name-calling, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, online harassment, up-skirting, cyberstalking, and doxing. Online harms such as these are an urgent concern in Canada and around the world.

 

Parents, teachers, schools, youth organizations, community groups, tech companies, legal systems, and governments are all working to figure out how to help young people address TFSV and online harms. Unfortunately, there is often a lack specific, tangible, and evidence-informed strategies that take youth’s voices into consideration. It is crucial that the experiences and needs of young people inform these new approaches and interventions.

 

Digitally Informed Youth (DIY): Digital Safety aims to understand the educational, policy, and legal issues with online harms in Canada and create resources that empower young people and help them stay safe online and in person.

DIY: Digital Safety aims to achieve four objectives:

Explore how educational curricula, policies, and legislation address online harms.

Analyze the effectiveness of educational, policy, and legal responses to online harms.

Identify what education, policies, and supports young people want to combat online harms.

Create resources for youth and best practice recommendations people who work with youth.

By undertaking these objectives, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of TFSV and online harms and foster the development of practical solutions that empower young people to navigate digital spaces safely and responsibly.

Research Grants

Exploratory Research to Investigate Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence

This mixed-methods and exploratory research project takes a multi-faceted approach to investigate technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) in Canada among youth aged 13–18. This project includes five phases:

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  1. Analyze current educational curricula, policies, and legislation in secondary schools to understand the extent to which TFSV is addressed by Canadian schools. This phase has produced a public report  summarizing our findings.
     

  2. Conduct focus groups with about 150 young people in rural and urban locations in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and Yukon to learn about young people’s experiences with technology. We are using arts-based and participatory methods to engage with diverse youth, including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth. This phase has produced a preliminary findings report.
     

  3. Administer a general population survey with over 1000 youth across Canada to understand the prevalence of TFSV victimization and perpetration among youth, their support seeking behaviours, and their legal awareness. This phase has produced a public report summarizing our findings.
     

  4. Conduct interviews with youth service workers to develop a broader understanding of young people’s experiences with TFSV and their help-seeking behaviours. The interview questions will be informed by findings uncovered in previous phases of this project.
     

  5. Create resources for youth and people who support youth, including educators, parents, policymakers, frontline workers, community organizations, and other key stakeholders.

Examining Young People’s Exposure to Authentic Violent Content Online

This project investigates young people’s exposure to authentic violence (i.e. real depictions of violence that are not from fictional sources such as movies, video games, or AI) on prominent online platforms. We have partnered with Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) to conduct a survey with teens (aged 13–18) from across Canada about the authentic violent content they encounter online.

 

This survey will seek to answer the following research questions: How common is exposure to such content in Canada? How does exposure differ depending on identity characteristics or social location? How do young people feel about being exposed to this content and how do they react when this content arises? What responses or regulations do young people want to help them critically engage with, respond to, and/or avoid these exposures?

Synthesizing Research on Technology Facilitated Gender-Based Violence

This project conducted a synthesis of scholarly research to map what is known and what remains unknown about technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). This project included three parts:

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  1. We conducted a national and international scoping review of English-language empirical research on TFGBV involving young people aged 13–18 to gain an understanding of the breadth of qualitative and quantitative data available for evidence-based curricula and policy making.
     

  2. We conducted a scoping review of French-language studies and searched for Canadian resources produced by academics, governments, and civil society organizations to understand how TFGBV is framed relative to young people in the Francophone context.
     

  3. We reviewed current educational curricula and resources on TFBGV in Canadian provinces and territories, including existing relevant education acts and statues related to TFGBV, to better understand how this issue is being addressed in schools.

 

This project produced a public report about TFGBV among young people. Le rapport est également disponible en français.

Funding provided by:

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