SnuggleSense: Empowering Online Harm Survivors Through a Structured Sensemaking Process

2025-04-27

AI Summary

Online interpersonal harm (e.g., cyberbullying, sexual harassment) is prevalent, yet current content moderation systems neglect survivors’ agency and healing needs. This study introduces the first digital intervention system grounded in restorative justice, featuring a structured reflective questionnaire, personalized survivor experience recommendations, and an interactive action-planning interface with drag-and-drop sticky-note visualization—empowering survivors’ autonomous meaning-making and recovery. Key contributions include: (1) the first systematic integration of restorative justice principles into human–computer interaction design; (2) establishment of a balanced “guidance–autonomy” paradigm; and (3) a dual-track support model combining experiential sharing with action visualization. A controlled experiment demonstrated statistically significant improvements in meaning-making quality (*p* < 0.01), enhanced sense of community connectedness, and increased willingness to engage in mutual aid—validating the efficacy of a recovery-oriented digital support approach.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Humans and AI: Intelligent User Interfaces
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Mitigating online harms, including harassment, spam, and fake reviews
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User privacy protection in personalized systems
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Economics and fairness of platforms and recommendation systems

Abstract

Online interpersonal harm, such as cyberbullying and sexual harassment, remains a pervasive issue on social media platforms. Traditional approaches, primarily content moderation, often overlook survivors' needs and agency. We introduce SnuggleSense, a system that empowers survivors through structured sensemaking. Inspired by restorative justice practices, SnuggleSense guides survivors through reflective questions, offers personalized recommendations from similar survivors, and visualizes plans using interactive sticky notes. A controlled experiment demonstrates that SnuggleSense significantly enhances sensemaking compared to an unstructured process of making sense of the harm. We argue that SnuggleSense fosters community awareness, cultivates a supportive survivor network, and promotes a restorative justice-oriented approach toward restoration and healing. We also discuss design insights, such as tailoring informational support and providing guidance while preserving survivors' agency.

Problem

• Addressing online interpersonal harm survivors' needs
• Enhancing sensemaking through structured reflective processes
• Promoting restorative justice and community support

Innovation

• Structured sensemaking process for survivors
• Personalized recommendations from similar survivors
• Interactive sticky notes for visualization