Inspiration
In Singapore, 6 in 10 victims of violence in Singapore suffer repeated victimization and more than 70% of such cases in Singapore are not reported to the police. Abuse is sometimes the result of gender inequality where traditional patriarchal norms dictate that women must be obedient to men for example. As a result, these women feel powerless and some feel they deserve the abuse. In addition, many believe the abuse will stop and do not report many incidents.
W.I.N App was developed to help abused women keep time-stamped photos, notes & voice records for fast and organized retrieval when needed. When a victim finally decides to report abuse/seek help/get a Protection Order, she is able to tap on the App to provide more accurate accounts of abuse, pictures or voice recordings related to abuse accumulated over time. In cases of dire emergencies, she is able to send information to others providing these information or to ask for help. By logging incidences of abuse in the App, victims may also be jolted to realize that the abuse may not stop and encouraged to seek help. The App also provides abuse victims a concise Safety Plan to prepare ahead of time, Steps to get help and the numerous help resources available in Singapore.
W.I.N aims to be the one App to empower abuse victims in Singapore, through providing knowledge and the technology to save and retrieve evidence/reports and key information quickly at one's fingertips.
What it does
The App has the following functionalities:
RESOURCES provides key information of organizations that can help abuse victims in Singapore. (1) Clicking on the phone icon beside each organization name auto-dials the hotline numbers. (2) Clicking on the organization name opens an organization’s webpage. (3) A concise summary of Steps to Seek Help details key actions in Singapore one can take in times of need. (4) Settings tab at the bottom of this page is where emergency email and phone number can be set and App’s database can be cleared.
SAFETY PLAN CHECKLIST provides a comprehensive list of items that one should be prepared for in emergency situations. Users can add and save up to 3 additional checklist items.
KEEP RECORDS allows users to note down and save incidents or thoughts in text and/or pictures which are time-stamped and saved on a folder in the phone. Notes get appended to the same .txt file each time it is saved so all records are conveniently found in one Notes.txt file on the device. Photos and Notes.txt files are in the same folder named WIN in device
VOICE RECORDER allows users to record and play back sounds with a convenient click of a button from the App’s homepage. Recordings are saved within the same folder in the device.
HELP button conveniently allows users to contact others with a single click. A short click on the button drafts an automated email message with pre-set information of where evidence is stored. A long click provides additional functionality of calling out to a pre-set phone number directly from the app’s homepage. Emergency email and phone numbers are set in Settings tab which can be found under Resources page.
How I built it
App was built using MIT App Inventor. In attempting to explore App Inventor, I tried to explore and use different functionalities of the tool. Explored multiple functionalities such as using TinyDB to pass information between screens, camera, sound recorder, player, Files, Sharing information through phone calls. email, webpages.
Challenges I ran into
(1) Saving voice recordings outside App’s tinydb and in same location as pictures and notes. Still not able to glean information on how to save as file in same folder without using any other app/add-ons outside of MIT App Inventor
(2) Creating time-stamped entries took quiet a while to figure out but once clear, it was easy to replicate across screens.
(3) Refining code blocks/Making code blocks more efficient so App does not use up so much memory and crash easily. App was crashing quite fast if user clicks very fast. E.g. Instead of using "Go To Screen" which allows multiple screens to remain open, I switched to "Close Screen" and App crashed less between screens.
(4) Not able to save the files on external online storage without using any other app/add-ons outside of MIT App Inventor
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
I learnt a lot about the different functionalities in MIT App Inventor whilst building the App. Though I could have built a simpler App of say just Photo and Note App, the learning process was so addictive that I just kept building more and more things into the App to see how it would work!
What I learned
I learned a lot about what can be done in the App Inventor and look forward to building more Apps in the future.
What's next for Women In Need
Next phase, I would explore the following: 1) Linking to external database to store the photos, txt and voice recordings 2) User password lock so only the abuse victim can unlock. If others try to unlock, perhaps show a camouflage screen about flower arrangement so no one finds out abuse victim logs without permission. 3) Admin panel to clear DB and change phone numbers of abuse hotlines 4) Think of a more catchy name for app
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