How can victims document domestic violence without risking their safety?
The Brief

In this project, Holis explored how communities and legal experts might use big data and AI to deter human rights abuses and increase convictions.

We collaborated with Dr John Stevens and Iulia Ionescu from the Royal College of Art (RCA) and Roland Harwood from Liminal to design and deliver this workshop for RCA Global Innovation Design students. To make the workshop real and up-to-date, we had the support of special advisors: Professor Yvonne MacDermott-Rees (Professor of Law, War Crimes at Swansea University), Jeff Deutch (Syrian Archive) and Dr David Boyle (AI / ML technology at Imperial College.

The Outcome

By designing and running a bespoke workshop for the RCA students and involving the right experts at the right time, Holis produced exciting projects with the students in a very short time. One of these outcomes was Cepi.

Cepi is a platform that allows people to discreetly activate an audio recording by saying predetermined trigger words and calling emergency helplines. It aims to empower victims to collect admissible audio evidence safely and make more informed decisions supported by machine learning analysis and collective human intelligence.

The target audience for this platform is potential victims who are afraid to act on the matter because it might cause serious dangers and who are unable to fight back. Victims often find it hard to gain admissible evidence since it usually occurs in private spaces without witnesses. Collecting evidence in the context of domestic violence could put victims into dangerous situations if abusers were to find out.

Download the presentation to learn more about this tool.

Vimeo video preview image
Cepi Overall Interactions
Vimeo video preview image
Cepi Overall Interactions

“Collaborating with Holis was transformative. By integrating their innovative expertise, they created a dynamic learning environment that empowered RCA students to develop real-world solutions addressing human rights abuses.”
Dr. John Stevens
Design and Innovation Teacher, Researcher and Consultant, Royal College of Art

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