UXA2023 Julia Suh - Driving a multi-sector collaboration for countering online child sexual exploitation

To create systemic change at a societal level and solve a wicked problem like online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), we need to understand and consider all people involved in the ecosystem. This talk explores the required sensitivity and strength in doing so: how robust research and strategic design can lead to responsible investment and ecosystem mobilisation; and how it helped a newly set up NFP organisation and manager of the Child Protection Fund (CPF) define, refine and maximise social impact.

Transcript

1. Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. www.captionslive.au | captionslive@outlook.com | 0447 904 255 UX Australia UX Australia 2023 Thursday, 24 August 2023 Captioned by: Bernadette McGoldrick & Kasey Allen
2. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 53 Our next talk is Julia. Hello. I will just say this talk comes with a content warning. It does deal in topics that some people may find
3. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 54 upsetting, I will let Julia tell you more but please join me in welcoming Julia to the stage. (APPLAUSE) JULIA SUH: Hello, good morning. Thank you for having me today. I am Julia Suh, I am a strategic designer at Tobias. If you chose to join me for this session this morning, I assume that you are here because you care about the safety of children, or because you care about making a positive change using your design skills. Thank you, firstly, for being here and joining this ecosystem of change makers. We need certainly more of you in the room with the multitude of wicked problems in this world. It is a privilege for me to be here and to be listened to on this platform today. I will share with you how we, as designers, can play a significant role in creating a movement for positive change and talk about a project that I worked on for the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children Australia. It is a case study to explain. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge that we meet on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and I would like to acknowledge that all the Indigenous nations those of you on the call are joining us from. I like to pay my respects to the elders past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for this land. If there are any Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander people on the call, I pay my respects to you too. Over the next 29 minutes and 21 seconds or so I am going to talk about a project associated with child sexual exploitation, that is a horrendous crime and may trigger thoughts and feelings that need attention, if you feel that you came into the room and joined a call, prepare to hear about it, you may feel differently throughout the talk. If you do, feel free to leave the room or the call at any time. This is me in the middle. I spent many years bringing people
4. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 55 together into the same room to talk about and take action around things that don't immediately and directly benefit them. Societal issues, city issues, neighbourhood issues and this got me thinking a lot about, in a literal and metaphorical sense, how do we mobilise individuals to actually roll up their sleeves and paint a wall for a purpose that's bigger than themselves and how do we, as designers, set up a program or project that people that are needed, so that people that are needed to make it into a success can step into it? How do we enable them to see how they fit into the broader ecosystem, whether it be an industry, neighbourhood, city, society or the planet? Child sexual exploitation is a network problem and it takes a network to solve for a network problem. What I am about to share is how our team at Tobias was able to support the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children Australia, acronym ICMEC Australia, to do this by bringing together online child sexual exploitation response ecosystem, so people with different tools, willingness and capabilities to work together. We did this through design, artefacts, insights, story-telling prodiscovery, codesign and our project created an awareness of how the systemic barriers are related to their individual pain points for the stakeholders, created an awareness of the interconnectivity and interdependencies between them, leading to pathways to respond to those systemic barriers. The problem of CSC is huge. Child sexual exploitation perpetrators behave like structured organisations, collaborating through criminal networks, constantly changing tactics to avoid detection, leveraging technology and outnumbering law enforcement. In 2021-2022 financial year, just over that year, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, or ACCCE, received over 36,000 reports of child sexual exploitation and in that same period, the Australian
5. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 56 Federal Police charged 221 people. Can you imagine - 221 individuals with 1,746 alleged child abuse-related offences. Let me first explain what I mean by child sexual exploitation because there are a few manifestations of it. Here are a few. Coercive self-generated content produced by minors themselves. Live streaming of child sexual abuse, so of a minor which is broadcast live through a digital platform. File sharing of imagery or video files which contain child sexual abuse material or the acronym CSAM. They are either traded online as a currency or shared for monetary gain by an online transaction, sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism, possession and purchase of child sexual abuse material that reinforces the sexualisation of children, including imagery, video and child-like sex dolls. For this project we focused on child sexual exploitation with digital footprints, the child sexual exploitation of children facilitated online. The OSEC crime rate is growing exponentially and systemic barriers can prevent the industry from sharing data to identify perpetrators from their digital footprint which can be created by making payments, communicating online and sharing child sexual abuse material. When ICMEC Australia engaged Tobias in early 2022, no single entity had a system-wide view of the responses to the crime, so they engaged Tobias to understand the current state, identify the right problems to solve and to solve for those, establish a framework to maximise its organisational impact and the funding of the initiatives and to limit any long term risk through constant testing of assumptions and course corrections. Identifying the right problems to solve was particularly important for ICMEC for two reasons, one because it was a newly set up entity and had resource and funding that they wanted to set in motion effectively but needed more insights into the problem space. ICMEC Australia exists
6. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 57 to facilitate more effective detection, reporting and prosecution of child sexual exploitation and this means that the understanding the entire child sexual exploitation ecosystem is critical. The second reason why identifying the right problems to solve was critical is because there is a finite amount of funding in the social impact space in general, that we want every dollar to count towards a cause, protecting children in this case. We mapped current state of the CSE, child sexual exploitation response ecosystem and got the pain points and barriers and we explored the current state of prevention, detection investigation, reporting and prosecution of OSEC, online sexual exploitation of children. This created a clear picture for the stakeholders of how their roles fit into the CSE prevention and response ecosystem, how they are dependent or related to each other and where the gaps are so that they can co-identify how they can be part of the solution and be on the pathway for greater social impact as a collective. We commenced the foundational research with a focus on the financial digital footprint associated with CSE. We conducted 36 in depth interviews with 47 participants in the ecosystem which allowed us to get different perspectives on the current state of CSE and on the problem from the very diverse cohorts that led to identifying the key to driving real change and disrupting child sexual exploitation facilitated online and also identifying the people who have the drive and capability to make the change. Including but not limited to the financial sector. The outputs included robust current state maps of the ecosystem, three very highly and engaging visual artefacts. One of them you will see on the screen here. It is current state journey map which follows the movement of financial information in the investigative process of the online sexual exploitation of children. The map offers the more detailed view of the
7. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 58 current landscape focusing on specifically how financial transactions are used in the detection and investigation process of OSEC in Australia. It follows the typical information journey where the suspicious transactions are detected by financial institutions, submitted as suspicious matter reports to the regulator and then used by law enforcement in their investigations in order to prosecute offenders. The map details the task, the roles, the data input, systems channels and pain points associated with each of those stages of the journey and the pain points were later turned into 42 areas of opportunity by the ICMEC Australia team and used as a starting point for the industry stakeholders to develop new collaboration initiatives. The second map is the current state CSE disruption ecosystem map. It offers a broader view of the current stakeholders and their roles combatting CSE or OSEC in Australia, focusing on the identification and removal of child victims from harm and the prosecution of the offenders as the ultimate outcome. It focuses on the areas of responsibility and impact for each stakeholder within the broader ecosystem, we use what is called a crime prevention triangle to demonstrate the current points of impact which suggest that for a crime to occur, to take place, there needs to be three components, a motivated offender, vulnerable victim and suitable place. Disruption at any of these points can remove the opportunity for a crime to occur and can prevent reoffending. ICMEC Australia later used this map to support stakeholder mapping and to design and execute stakeholder engagement. Lastly, this current state ecosystem gaps map is an overview of systemic challenges and large complex barriers that currently prevent the ecosystem stakeholders from executing their roles effectively in online child sexual exploitation investigations and disruptions. There are two different categories of the various, one indicated by the three large red
8. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 59 stop icons on the map, systemic barriers require paradigm shifts, a completely new way of thinking, a large number of stakeholders working closely together towards the same goal. They include complex problems like data access and legislative barriers, or data footprints being split across multiple platforms and industries. The seven systemic barriers were later used by ICMEC Australia to help assess their child protection fund applications to ensure the initiatives that they are supporting and funding would lead to solving them. I will talk about that a bit more later. The second category is industry-wide barriers that require an understanding of the other party's behaviours and motivations and cross-sector collaborations as well to solve. All the maps are shared electronically with the ICMEC members and are hung on the walls of the ICMEC Australia office for the staff to continually refer to and to remind themselves of the complexity and the context and the systems that they work within. We dug really deep into the current site and we were able to surface an insight that taking a holistic, multisector and inclusive approach is really critical to drive the outcomes. We needed to cross-pollenate the ideas between the stakeholders who would not typically sit in a room together, like the law enforcement officers, social impact experts, regulators, data scientists, financial institutions intelligence and investigation staff, as well as people who are the voices of survivors. We pivoted from the original project plan and started planning a full day event as a direct response to an insight that a diverse range of sectors and organisations is key to creating a systemic change. This invitation for the design studio innovation event, it brought together 51 participants who provided further feedback on the insights generated to the date and they used those and other provocations to cocreate solutions that really matter to them, their roles as well as the entire
9. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 60 ecosystem. We brought in high profile, socially responsible companies like Canva, who sponsored the event, the maker of the children in the pictures documentary which I recommend that you watch. The law enforcement stakeholders to leverage their influence and knowledge. Ideas were put through several rounds of iteration, we started with individual ideas which were then critiqued, stolen from and built upon, as groups combined together and finally pitched to the whole room. We spent a lot of time preparing for the event, to make sure we created a creative and safe environment, so that the participants were able to kick-start and leverage each others' knowledge, insights and experiences. Some pitched their ideas to ICMEC Australia on camera, initiating discussions for the child protection fund, some people connected with each other on the day to discuss ideas around how they could collaborate for that fund application. All participants were asked to make a pledge at the start of the event to the community assembled in the room and this was really the formal beginning of a community of practice for a collective action, rather than just solving for their individual pain points. The day was really great for creating and fostering industry connections between the participants but also to expand ICMEC Australia's network. Following the event Tobias and the ICMEC team debated, analysed and researched further the 50-plus idea that emerged from the event and started concept development and some of the interviewees and the design studio participants continued to engage in concept-testing and program development and the shaping of the child protection fund. ICMEC Australia's three streams of work provides the tools, access to community or practice and funding. The data product stream is built on the idea of developing and supporting the implementation of data collaboration projects that are able to reference various datasets from
10. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 61 clear web, dark web, risks and crime typologist, whilst maintaining privacy in order to create a stronger picture of the crime leading to more effective detection. The collaboration stream is built on the idea of creating a community of practice for sustainable collective action, the membership program is a direct result of the research and code sign of the solutions and the portal was launched earlier this year following iterative testing with the users and it provides a collaborative online space for individuals and organisations within the community. The membership program is also designed to support ICMEC Australia as it transitions to operating as a social enterprise effectively by generating revenue from its products and services. Thirdly, the child protection fund stream is built on the idea of funding innovative data and technology solutions that can enhance the detection, reporting and prosecution of child sexual exploitation. These initiatives must be social impact-led and not yet commercially viable with the aim of providing proof of concept outcomes and it takes a venture philanthropy approach which facilitates new cross-industry partnerships that help break down the silos that exist today. These three streams work in constant collaboration, right, to ensure successful project outcomes are delivered. The challenge with solving for societal problems is that there are so many problems that are inter linked. It is really hard to find the thread to start untangling from, which is the thread with the biggest leverage point? I think design is a really good way to finding that thread, but designers really need to work alongside the clients as one team and both need to be comfortable with being vulnerable. ICMEC Australia is a small, not for profit organisation, newly established in Australia and they were really open-minded about wanting to identify their positioning, finding out what role they can play to create the biggest impact and finding that right spot
11. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 62 between what they are capable of and what the industry gaps are so that they can commit their resources responsibly and effectively. Our Tobias team also was equally comfortable with being vulnerable. We are expert generalists and gained the subject matter knowledge along the project journey, not necessarily from the start, but we worked with confidence that trusting research, evidence and testing will lead to the right solutions. Thinking back and delivering projects and perhaps all my past projects, there are two components that really support robust design, sensitivity and strength. Sensitivity to deeply understand the needs, motivations and capabilities of the people involved and strengths, to bring them altogether, pivot as needed and start walking towards that same north star, even if you can't really see that path all the way just yet. Sensitivity and strength is becoming even more important, I think, because our roles and responsibilities as designers are changing. We used to design things, traditionally, with just the user in mind - good designers had the user in mind, bad designers had nobody in mind, but now, design is changing and the types of challenges that we take on, we design modern things. As designers we are working with organisations to shape how they operate and how they make decisions and the direct user may only be part of that story. What we design may have flow-on impacts which means we have to consider the entire ecosystem of people who may sit outside of the user cohort and how do we - what do we need in the design room to do that? We talked about diversity a lot so far this morning, so you got it, diversity. I would love for us to go beyond the quota-based thinking that is so common when we talk about diversity. How many CALD participants did you get in the room? Were there any people with disabilities in the room? Don't get me wrong, I think those indicators are really important
12. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 63 and I feel hopeful that we are making, as an industry, progress, but maybe we are thinking too small? I don't have many key takeaways today but I would love for you to think about this one thing. Think of a project that you are working on right now and people in the design room and unpack diversity this way. Diversity of thought emerging from different experiences and belief systems. Diversity of capabilities, that is not just the skills but also the ability to influence the ecosystem from different angles at different levels, and diversity of privileges, acknowledging how our positionality impacts our perspectives and perceptions. This is harder to measure, right, because we can't count it. I think we bear the responsibility of designing for large ecosystems of people in creating social tension. This might be worth thinking about. Lastly, I want to mention and congratulate ICMEC Australia who are unfortunately not here today, but for their ongoing tireless work day in and day out. What they continue to achieve is truly exceptional. As of June this year, they engaged 96 organisations from 12 industries, which is increasing the number of participants by 300% over a six month period. They kicked off nine data and collaboration projects led by the industry and today the team is a microcosm of what the project has done, helping them to understand their stakeholders and how they work. If you want to contribute to this ongoing fight against child sexual exploitation today, you can take action now. Firstly, I guess if you hadn't really had the opportunity to learn about it in the past, learn about it, really good resources on the ACCCE, the Government web site. If you have kids, have those difficult conversations and you can find more resources through the eSafety web site. Lastly, if you feel or think that you have seen a crime, or if you do see a crime in the future, do report them. Thank you, so much. (APPLAUSE)
13. CaptionsLIVE Raw Transcript _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that this is an unedited transcript of a live event and therefore may contain errors. This transcript is the joint property of CaptionsLIVE and the authorised party responsible for payment and may not be copied or used by any other party without authorisation. Page 64 STEVE BATY: Thank you, so much for that. We have time for questions, Julia, if you would like to take any and if we have any from the floor, raise your hand if you have a question for Julia and we will bring a mic over. If not, I will let you - there we go, Elle. >> Fascinating talk, thank you so much, Julia. What did you do at Tobias to look after yourselves on a project that this intense - tell me a bit about the protection or whatever you want to call it - what did you do? JULIA SUH: Counselling services were offered from the beginning, when we talked about the project, before we even got into the content of it, it was a difficult and challenging topic to even - and I just came back from maternity leave at that point, so I had a baby at home and this is a trigger warning but the documentary that I recommended that you watch was actually a very good pathway - a quick pathway into getting to know the subject matter and I do remember having to take my time watching it. I couldn't go through it all at once. I watched maybe the first 20 minutes and I had to stop, take a walk, take a breather and do something else. In the beginning it was a very slow process. STEVE BATY: Thank you, so much, Julia. Please join me in thanking Julia today. (APPLAUSE) Thanks for the question, Elle, it is a good reminder that when we work in design and we undertake research, it is not just the research participants that are entering a space of vulnerability, we do so ourselves.