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Internet Multimedia in Domestic Violence Prevention
In the field of domestic violence prevention, there is an urgent sense that more effective tools are needed to inform the public and help victims know of available legal responses. The Internet is one way courts and other organizations can meet this need. Nationally, a woman is beaten by her intimate partner every 15 seconds, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for an estimated total victim population of three to four million women annually in the United States.
This article reviews the multimedia resources for domestic violence prevention. The use of multimedia formats, such as video, audio, and interactive quizzes, improves on-line delivery of information. In the past, there were high barriers to using multimedia technology. However, recent innovations in multimedia will help agencies successfully deliver domestic violence content on the Internet.
Video
The richest form of multimedia is video. The problems with on-line video are bandwidth
and cost. It takes a fast modem and robust computer on the user's side to download and
view video. On balance, the results are worth the expense. Remember William Shakespeare
was not satisfied with writing plays: he staged them with people moving about and
speaking. Take a page from Shakespeare's book and leverage the effectiveness of your
written material with drama. Having people moving about and speaking on the computer
screen with video is a quantum leap from the text-only approach.
Video clips fall into three categories. The first category consists of dramatizations of domestic violence incidents. One example is the Santa Monica Police Department's clip showing a fight escalating in the home, as seen from the eyes of a child hiding behind the pantry screen door. The clip is a professionally produced television commercial and packs an emotional punch. It effectively mobilizes public support for community programs. A drawback is that the clip does not educate the public about broader issues, such as how to obtain legal information or why some women remain with violent partners.
The second category comprises video clips of courtroom proceedings arising from domestic violence cases. The most well-known example is the O. J. Simpson murder trial broadcast at the CNN Web site. Another clip from England shows a courtroom scene of a jury verdict for a battered wife found guilty of shooting her husband, and one from the United States shows a criminal sentencing of a batterer. Like the Santa Monica television commercial, these video clips are emotional and moving. Video clips of trials have a dramatic quality that is effective in a short clip format. However, the clips remain fairly shallow. The whole trial is not covered, and there is no sense of what came before or after the clip. Bandwidth and cost factors make it difficult to post long clips, so some choppiness is inevitable. The challenge is to incorporate the video available into a broader curriculum on domestic violence.
The third category consists of video clips that provide educational content. The notion here is that information need not incorporate dramatic presentation to make you think. Video can deliver so many ideas that it is suited for presenting debates on complex problems. What is the frequency of incidents, the response of the victim, or the best practices to reduce violence in the home? Video and animation are appropriate to tackle these questions because they can communicate large amounts of information.
It is possible to have video that is both emotional and substantive. Some of the best clips on-line show victims talking about their experiences. A clip from WRAL television of Raleigh, North Carolina, shows a woman speaking about her father's violence in the home. The story, which works so well in multimedia, certainly would lose some of the immediacy if the reader had the words solely in text format.
Audio
Audio files are another useful form of multimedia to apply to on-line domestic
violence education. Though they lack the power of video files, audio files are much more
compact than video files. As a result, they are cheaper to post on a Web server and can
reach more users because the hardware requirements are lower than they are for video.
National Public Radio (NPR) is one of the best sources for audio on-line and has broadcast several domestic violence stories. In one clip, Talk of the Nation host Ray Suarez interviews Richard Gelles, director of the Family Violence Research Program at the University of Rhode Island. In another clip, from NPR's Morning Edition on April 2, 1997, Bob Edwards talks with Susan Wilt of New York's Department of Health about a study which found that the majority of women killed between 1990 and 1994 met their deaths at the hands of husbands and boyfriends.
Interactive Quizzes
Interactive quizzes also are effective for improving delivery of domestic violence
information. Quizzes can employ varying levels of technology, from simple Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML) hyperlinks to more complex Java applets and Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
scripts. An applet quiz is used by the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic
Violence in Seattle. The user sees several questions, such as "How many women suffer
domestic violence each year?" and can answer them without further prompting. Not all
users have the latest browser software required to view Java, the site's Webmaster
cautions.
New Initiatives
Multimedia is poised to play a crucial role in any national initiative to improve the
effectiveness of protection orders. The cheapest method of sharing domestic violence
protection orders is to have them available in electronic format. There are numerous
public safety advantages from an electronic filing system, such as faster and more
accurate sharing of data with other jurisdictions. Multimedia can provide instructions on
how to use an electronic filing system. It is also suited to reply to frequently asked
questions, such as "What happens to this protection order after it is sent to a
national registry?"
The Web could place more multimedia information in the hands of community organizations. The possibilities are tantalizing. A domestic violence information channel on the Internet is possible with current technology. Imagine free access to an archive of each state's videos about domestic violence. Today, these resources are unknown and unavailable outside of the community where they were produced. Sharing of information is what the Internet does better than any other kind of communication network.
In the future, virtual meeting places could include videoconferencing to discuss new developments in the field. Experts in social services could deliver continuing education seminars, which an almost unlimited number of advocates could attend from their desktop. Currently, there are several listserv groups for domestic violence topics such as safety, legal issues, and treatment options.
Finally, interactive television may overcome some of the limitations of the Internet. Boosters of interactive TV say we do not need more video on the Internet; we need more Internet on television. At its simplest level, interactive TV uses traditional television and adds the Internet to achieve a dimension of viewer interactivity. For example, a television show on domestic violence would have a Web site with a live chat feature or threaded discussion group for those who watched the show to engage in a discussion of the issues. Another approach is to have a live television talk show that allows the viewers to e-mail questions to the guest, similar to how Larry King accepts questions via telephone during his live talk show.
In conclusion, delivery of information on the Internet is evolving towards greater use of multimedia. Domestic violence Web sites are beginning to reflect this change. In 1995, when publishing on the Web began in earnest, designers used text and graphics because nothing else was available. In 1998, with breakthroughs in video technology, there are great opportunities to reach the public with information about domestic violence. Skillful handling of multimedia can bolster efforts to assist battered women and reduce the social scourge of violence in the home.
For an extensive list of Web sites related to domestic violence prevention, visit the Appendix to this article.Bradley J. Hillis is an attorney who worked as a legal analyst for the Office of the Administrator for the Courts in Washington State from 1994 to 1998. His articles on legal technology have appeared on Microsoft's Web site, in the Internet Legal Practice Newsletter in Boston, and on the Law Librarians Resource Exchange in Los Angeles. He can be reached by e-mail at bradh@dis.wa.gov
