I’m Safe is dedicated to empowering women by promoting the use of technology to enhance their safety and raising awareness about its potential. This mindset helped us hold several events meant to create more interest in the app and grow the community. Starting with our App’s launch event with a blood donation camp in Alandur, I’m Safe continued spreading awareness on the app and the importance of women’s safety.
But physical events were not the only thing I’m Safe engaged in. The team also hosted several webinars with reputed guests. These webinars tackled different topics from relationships, to safety, etc. In the end, attendees who had questions on their minds got to clear them with the guest speakers.
All these physical and digital events increased I’m Safe as a brand and helped raise awareness about our cause. Eventually, we got the opportunity to conduct an event at the prestigious Sathyabama College.
Sathyabama College
Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology was founded in 1987 as Sathyabama Engineering College by the late Dr. Jeppiaar (or J.P.R). It received its university status in 2001. The College has a campus of 400 acres, located in Sholinganallur, and it has an A grade with the NAAC.
The National Institutional Ranking Framework (or NIRF) ranked the college 55th in the engineering college ranking in 2021, 40th among universities, and 61st overall.
I’m Safe at Sathyabama
At Sathyabama College, we focused on educating youngsters on women’s safety and the importance of women’s empowerment in the recent times. We discussed ways in which everyone, mainly on how youngsters can contribute to empowering women. There was a large audience that came to attend the event. The audience consisted of students from the cybersecurity department, along with their professors.
During our brief presentation on women’s empowerment, we emphasized the positive impact it can have on society, the economy, and politics. Additionally, we highlighted the potential drawbacks of not empowering women and the areas that can benefit from increased empowerment. After the brief talk, we began talking about the application along with its features. The team highlighted the need for each feature in a safety app. These features, backed by an intuitive user interface were what helped I’m Safe to differentiate itself from the crowd and gain attention.
Although some students seemed to have questions, we asked them to wait till the end of the presentation. That way, everyone had a clear understanding of the app before mentioning their queries. The team then went on to show how I’m Safe was useful in several situations. These circumstances varied from college to corporate environments. In both areas, I’m Safe proves pivotal in helping a user navigate through a dangerous situation while ensuring their safety at all times.
Many of the audience were immensely impressed with the app’s capabilities. Most notably, they liked the app’s ability to ensure user anonymity while raising complaints. They also were positive about the app’s ability to alert organisations. This feature was especially useful for women working in the IT sector and those working night shifts. Night shift workers in particular are often vulnerable to many outside threats. I’m Safe goes a long way to help them take control of their safety.
The many benefits I’m Safe provided caught students’ interest and that translated into positive engagement with the audience. They were all thrilled to learn about women’s safety and shared their thoughts, inputs, and ideas with the team.
It was inspiring to see so many of the younger generation enthusiastic and eager to make a positive impact on our society. They say that children are the future and going by this reception, the future looks bright.
Q&A Session
With the event nearing a close, it was time for us to open the floor to questions. By now, many of the attendees had a lot of queries on their minds and we hoped to answer the majority of them.
1.How does your app differ from Kavalan and Kaval Uthavi in terms of its unique features or characteristics?
While Kavalan is a local app, “I’m Safe” is a global one. Kavalan directly contacts the police, whereas our survey results showed that people prefer to alert their family and friends first, who can then decide whether to involve the police. Additionally, our app provides the option to call the police if the user chooses to do so.
2. Is your app accessible and usable by people with disabilities?
At present, we have initiated an idea to incorporate an SOS button onto the walking stick of visually impaired individuals, which can be triggered in times of emergency. Moreover, we are also actively working on making our app more accessible and user-friendly for individuals with disabilities.
3.How would you ensure that alerts are delivered if a user does not have access to the internet?
We’re developing a new feature called GPS SOS trigger to assist people in emergency situations when internet connectivity is unavailable. This feature will enable users to send out alerts, along with their location details, even without an internet connection.
4.Is there an alternative option such as SMS or phone calls available for individuals who do not possess smartphones?
Yes, we have a solution for this scenario. When a user adds a friend who doesn’t own a smartphone to our app, they will receive alerts via SMS. This ensures that even if the user’s friends don’t have a smartphone, they can still be notified during an emergency.
5.Does the app also cater to the safety of men?
The primary purpose of our app is to ensure the safety of women. However, men can also use our app for their safety needs. The app is secure as it only allows the addition of friends through friend requests, thereby minimizing the risk of misuse by men. We firmly believe that the safety of women is interconnected with the safety of men in our society, and we strive to provide a secure environment for everyone.
6.Is it possible to enhance privacy protection by allowing the use of fingerprints or passwords for stored data?
We have decided to implement a password feature specifically for the history section of our app. This is to provide an extra layer of security and privacy for users who want to keep their history protected. Additionally, we will be implementing a restriction on taking screenshots within the app to maintain user privacy and protect pictures and audio recordings taken through the app.
7.Is it possible to have safety tags that can trigger an SOS in emergencies when phones are not accessible?
We are currently in the process of developing a safety Bluetooth tag that can trigger an SOS to our app, even if the phone is not accessible. This feature is part of our roadmap, and we are targeting to release it in about a year’s time.
8.How can someone unable to read or write be taught to use the app effectively?
To teach non-readers or non-writers to use the app, visuals, videos, and voice commands can be helpful. A trusted person can also assist in using the app. Accessibility options like text-to-speech and font size adjustments are important for visually impaired, and will be added to our app soon.
These questions helped us look at the app with a fresh perspective. By the time the event was over, we returned with renewed determination and inspiration.
Conclusion
Women’s safety has been a societal concern for many years now. There have been many steps forward to empower women and increase their safety. In today’s techno-centric world, I’m Safe utilizes the latest technologies to take women’s safety to the next level.
Thanks to that insightful event at Sathyabama University, we came back with fresh ideas ready to integrate into the app. We eagerly look forward to how this new perspective helps improve the app and ensures safety for all women.