The 2012 Delhi gang rape case propelled the issue of sexual violence against Indian women onto the international scene. In response to this national problem, the “I am Safe” project was conceived during a recent hackathon event of WAN-IFRA’s App Development Challenge.

Although women’s safety apps for mobile phones already exist, they have mixed reviews.  The “I am Safe” project is hoped to be effective in preventing sexual attacks. It will consist of a mobile app, data framework and a social/cross media campaign.

Robb Montgomery, CEO of the Visual Editors non-profit organisation and Montgomery Multimedia, will be the project lead and coordinate the program’s activities. He lists the proposed features, which include push notification to warn users when they are entering a known danger area, and the ability to send distress signals to designated contacts. The app will also be able to use geolocation information to show safe and unsafe areas on a data-driven map visualization, and will transmit related geodata to first-responders.  Along with data sources drawn from city-level crime indicators, the app will convey threat levels and safe routes to the user.

As part of a series of WAN-IFRA innovation initiatives taking place all over the world, the App Development Challenge in Bangalore, India, was part of the Publish Asia conference.

The WAN-IFRA international Media Hack Day will take place 5-6 October in Berlin, over the course of 30 hours, within the framework of the World Publishing Expo.