Discussion, input + hands-on: Choosing mobile apps [tactical activity]

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This is discussion and input activity that will focus on enabling the participants to choose mobile apps for themselves, especially after the workshop.

This activity has 3 stages:

Learning objective this activity responds to

Who is this activity for?

This session may apply to anyone who has ever used a mobile phone, and wants to have a better handle on how to choose apps.

Intersectionality flag: this activity is designed as practice with assessing safety of mobile apps, specifically messaging apps. Other types of apps that may be more relevant for your participants might include the following:

Time required

This requires about 60 minutes.

Resources needed for this activity

Mechanics

Discussion: What are you using and why? - 10 minutes

In plenary, ask: What are 5 apps you use the most? What do you use them for? Get everyone to contribute to the discussion.

Then ask: How did you choose them?

To synthesise, summarise the reasons and go into the input.

Input: Best practices for choosing apps - 5 minutes

Hands-on activity: Assessing popular apps - 15 minutes

Go into the app store and try to find an app that does something common in the context. In an urban setting, maybe a taxi-hailing app, subway system map etc.

How do you choose? Look into (1) what permissions does it ask for (2) who is distributing the app and who manages and owns the service. There are a lot of apps out there that are copies of popular apps, made to look like something you want like a game or a subway map and they are actually designed to do other things like send your location to someone else. The developer or company that is distributing the app will be named in the app store. Share what you know about who owns the app/runs the service and research to assess ways in which the values may be similar and different from yours and how that may impact your privacy and safety while using the app. If you are choosing between multiple apps that appear the same, look elsewhere online for more information about the app and who is the developer or company distributing it and double check that you are downloading this one.

Activity: Assessing messaging apps - 30 minutes

Break into small groups. In small groups:

In plenary: Share back, each group share one app until you have shared all of them.

Guiding questions:

List of messaging apps and considerations

SMS
Calls
Facebook Messenger
GoogleTalk
Signal (recommended app)
Telegram
WhatsApp
Wire

Additional resources


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Revision #3
Created 16 April 2023 04:18:12 by Kira
Updated 27 June 2023 13:21:28 by Kira