The “butterfly button” is the winning project in the annual Michal Sela Safe@Home hackathon. This is a feature that can be installed on any website or application, and through it it will be possible to report domestic violence. The hackathon is a venture competition from the Michal Sela and Google Forum association, which is being held for the third year in memory of the late Michal Sela, who was murdered by her partner.
The final of the annual hackathon in memory of the late Michal Sela, Safe@Home, was held yesterday (Wednesday) at the President’s House in Jerusalem. The hackathon is an entrepreneurship competition held for the third year by the Michal Sela Forum association and Google, with the aim of promoting the development of technologies to save women’s lives who live under violence. The three hackathons were held near the birthday of the late Michal Sela, who was murdered in her home by her partner.
About 80 teams competed in the hackathon, and 30 of them were led by women survivors of intimate partner violence, after participating in technological conceptualization workshops led by EY, and during the hackathon they were accompanied by soldiers from technological units. Out of all the competitors, seven ventures made it to the final, which was hosted by the president’s wife, Michal Herzog.
First place was won by the project “The Butterfly Button” – a feature that can be installed on any application and website, turning them into a potential reporting source for domestic violence. The butterfly routes the contact to the relevant authorities in the country from which the call originated, and identifies the user’s language and changes its display accordingly, all while maintaining confidentiality and without leaving traces on the device or in the browsing history. Already today the button is embedded in certain applications. The code is open source and can be found at this link.
The project was led by Peri Shalom and Nathaniel Amer. According to Amer, “We are before the marketing stage of the butterfly, and we came to be heard and known. When I was growing up, calling the hotline was a shame, so a butterfly icon that would allow you to contact discreetly means a lot to me.”
