2. Answering Difficult Questions: We always get a lot of requests for technical assistance (TA), but this year we received more TA than ever. We provided TA on complex technology-facilitated abuse, how to set up remote services, confidentiality and working remotely, helping survivors vote safely, technologists looking to create products, apps, software; and the list goes on. We provided close to 500 hours of technical assistance this year. Understanding the ins and outs of technology, confidentiality, and service provision can be complex and we are always willing to help programs as they work with survivors to understand these nuances.
3. Tech Summit Goes Virtual: It’s one thing to provide guidance on how to conduct a virtual event, it’s another to put it into practice. We hosted our annual Tech Summit, taking a 3-day in-person conference and made it a 5-day virtual event. We had close to 750 people register to attend and to receive recordings of the training. We worked to ensure that even though we were virtual, the sessions were engaging and informative. Though we ran into a few technical difficulties, we learned from them, and are excited to come back next year, whether virtual or in-person. Our Tips for Hosting a Virtual Event Guide has more information to help you as you plan a virtual event.
Looking Ahead
As we move into 2021, we continue to keep the needs of the field and survivors at the heart of what we do. We are looking to ensure that our content is always timely and relevant, factoring in the unique needs many communities have, and the ways that access to technology is still a barrier for many survivors.
We know that confidentiality, the digital divide, providing remote and digital services, and transformative justice in technology are all topics we want to explore more and incorporate into our training, materials, webinars, and how we do this work.
We are grateful every day for the amazing ways we get to support programs, technologists, service providers, and survivors. We know that this year has been complicated, exhausting, and has really shifted our collective thinking in how survivors reach out to services, how programs communicate, and all of the in-between.
We are hopeful as we go into the new year, knowing that we will bring our same core values to center the voices of survivors, empowering survivors in their technology use, and supporting programs as we all work to end violence for all.
Check out our infographic to learn more about how we did our work this year! Read more about NNEDV’s reflections on 2020.