Script from Interview with Professionals
- Can you briefly introduce yourself?
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My name is Natalie Dolci, who works as Senior Violence Prevention and Response Specialist at UW SafeCampus.
- What is your definition of Cyberbullying?
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My definition of Cyberbullying would be any use of technology to perpetuate harassment against another person in a targeted way, so that might mean use of social media, text messages, automating the harm but like having bots contacting people, or robocalls.
- What are some examples that fit into the category of Cyberbullying?
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Doxxing, trolling; targeted with spoofed calls or unknown calls, contacted with social media repeatedly; cyberbullying, cyberharassment, tech-abuse; a lot of it will be depended on how someone is being targeted, depending on relationship
- Were there any examples or cases that are related to Cyberbullying?
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Majority of cases involve tech components, which leads to cyberbullying itself.
- How does cyberbullying differ from in-person bullying?
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One major fact is that people who are involved with cyberbullying can easily anonymize their identities through technology, and because of that they are worse in tactics than in-person bullying. Easier for them to avoid accountability because if they use basic measures to cloak themselves, it’s difficult for the response system to classify who they are. Cyberbullying can be automated, which means people can keep sending and sending words and messages to harass people.(ex. robocalls). In-person bullying, people have to make efforts to be in the physical presence of the victim, whereas you can automate it more in cyberbullying.
- What causes cyberbullying to keep going even though there have been cases of punishments?
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In general, not many people who conduct cyberbullying experience meaningful consequences for engaging in harmful behavior, and it’s not that hard to create a new account depending on what you are doing. A lot of that behavior does not get back to you to reveal who you really are.
- Can you share some cases you have dealt with cyberbullying as examples?
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Unfortunately, I cannot share specific cases. Generally, often times when people are experiencing cyberbullying, they don’t know where to go nor how to get help, they don’t know what resources are available to them. Confusion and stress from cyberbullying can weigh heavily on victims.
- What would be your advice to people who are involved with cyberbullying, such as parents, friends, or even coworkers?
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Familiarize themselves with technology that the people who are experiencing cyberbullying are using. Find out what platform they are on, what kind of information they are sharing, since it can bring unexpected dangers to homelife.
- What advice would you give to someone who have been traumatized by cyberbullying?
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Try to educate yourself about what privacy settings are, about how much information is contained in profiles, to make sure what kind of information is out there that reveals about you. Make sure you know what safety features are based on platforms and activate them ahead of time. There are only few responsive resources, so use consumer skills to find out what platform is more responsive than others.
- What are some resources you would recommend for people to combat cyberbullying?
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Pen America that focuses on journalists, but have good contents as well. Equality Lab. Access now.
- What do you think about SafeCampus?
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There are resources available at SafeCampus, will hear the cases of victims and help them develop safety plans and strategies to avoid further harassment.
- How often do students generally reach out to SafeCampus when they are cyberbullied?
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Since technology mediates so many of communications that it is extremely rare that person will be experiencing pattern of harm and not have some form of technology be a component of that. It’s very rare that everything will be happening in-person, which means there is usually technology as component in cases.
- What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about seeking help regarding cyberbullying but is unsure about it?
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If people want to contact SafeCampus, they can contact them anonymously, and can help build strategies and plans without sharing too much information.
- What are good ways others can support people in their lives who are victims of cyberbullying?
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When a victim is experiencing cyberbullying, they are usually very stressed-out. Anything people can do to lessen the load of victims is being helpful friends(ex. Documenting the chat, screen capturing, etc)
- What are good ways others can support people in their lives who are victims of cyberbullying?
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Bystander intervention is really important. Letting people know that you don't support bullying, nor the behavior. (ex. Racist or Sexist joke isn’t FUNNY)