In this digital age, where the world is at our fingertips, we have all been able to enjoy the latest perks of technology – social media, digital transactions, cool new gadgets, and the emerging field of AI. Tools like AI generate new creative and professional responsibilities. But the potential allowed by all these forms of engagement with technology isn’t without its own biases, hindrances, and exclusions.
Thus, as frontliners of technology and as regular users, we can view online security and safety from various dimensions:
- Understanding where vulnerabilities arise from and the various risk areas online.
- Understanding how to create content is accessible to people across gender identities, sexual identities, and disability.
- Learning the basics of AI tools, familiarizing with AI tools, and adopting techniques to ensure the use of AI is fair and inclusive.
Surrounding these three major ideas, we at Safer-I organized a one-day event titled ‘Internet Ethics and Online Security Workshop Pokhara’. The program focused on young women actively pursuing an education or a career in technology and based in Pokhara. Because of the comparative geographic exclusion and a less active tech community, such events are rare, especially for women participants. Additionally, the idea of digital security, inclusion, and ethical AI isn’t as discussed in the tech community. This session was thus organized to introduce the aforementioned topics to the women while also allowing them a space for networking.
Our first session for the day was the session titled ‘Digital Privacy Workshop’. This session was led by Suvechhaya Shrestha, our strategic lead. We first started with a brief introduction to Safer-I’s team, activities, and motivations. The session then focused on introducing the participants to the idea of securing their digital identity and securing their data. Securing their digital identity meant practices like password security but also securing anonymity and IP address. Securing their data meant practices like encryption and backup.
Our second session for the day was titled ‘Exploring AI: From Basics to Ethics’. This session was led by Nirisha Manandhar, our campaign lead. The session focused on providing an understanding of AI basics followed by a discussion on rethinking the idea of ethics and exploring the idea of balancing AI growth and ethics. Prominent discussions included the ideas of surveillance, algorithm, and ownership.
Our final session for the day was titled ‘Building Inclusive Tech’. The session was led by Aayesha Shrestha, our tech and innovation lead. The session focused on teaching tools and techniques to ensure safe and secure digital experiences for everyone regardless of their abilities. The participants were first shared with the need for inclusive tech followed by techniques to practice inclusive tech development practices like providing media alternatives, labeling, fonts, etc. The session also introduced them to tools that can be used to measure and align inclusive development practices.
The workshop ended with a high tea where the participants and the facilitators had an opportunity to reflect on the discussions that they had. As the workshop comes to a successful end, we would like to extend our appreciation to the facilitators and participants for an engaging and fruitful session. The Safer-I team looks forward to organizing more such sessions in the future.
