The end of trolls; 14-year-old Trisha Prabhu plans to solve the problem of cyberbullying. The teenager was selected as a global finalist at the Google Science Fair 2014, with the project Rethink που κινείται γύρω από μια απλή ιδέα: προτρέπει τους εφήβους να ξαναδιαβάσουν επιζήμια messages before sending them into the digital world.
"Prevent cyberbullying at its source"
Prabhu hypothesized that teens may be less willing to troll someone if a warning mechanism rings their bell. To prove her theory, she created the “Baseline” and “Rethink” systems, which ask users to post a series of predetermined messages. The difference between the two is that the latter system warns users of potentially offensive messages and offers the opportunity to review before sending. Prabhu then conducted a total of 1.500 anonymous tests with teenagers ages from 12 to 18 After sorting and processing the results, he discovered that 67% of people using the “Baseline” system posted the malicious comments. In contrast, less than five percent of participants who used “Rethink” posted the messages.
The young woman is now working on a prototype that will show how the "Rethink" system can be integrated with today's plethora of social networking sites. "My design includes a sophisticated framework with a sensitive filtering system that really captures harmful 'messages,'" says Prabhu.
