NIT-T team develops gaming app to combat cyber-bullying among school children

NIT-T researchers develop Bully Ind, an educational gaming app to prevent cyber-bullying among school students aged 12-17.

Researchers from National Institute of Technology – Tiruchi (NIT-T) have developed ‘Bully Ind’, an educational gaming application that aims to raise awareness and prevent cyber-bullying among school students from the ages of 12-17.

The project that developed Bully Ind, which is categorised as a serious game, is sponsored by Department of Science and Technology and Science and Engineering Research Board (DST-SERB), now renamed as DST ANRF (Anusandhan National Research Foundation) under the Start-up Research Grant scheme.

“Cyber-bullying is usually seen from the context of adults, but it is quite common among children too. Though research on this issue is available on paper, there are not many solutions available for school children,” K. Sitara, lead researcher and assistant professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, NIT-T, told The Hindu.

To develop Bully Ind, Ms. Sitara and her project associate K. Preethi collected real-life stories from various districts and states through school teachers and student counsellors. The feedback was used to create real-life scenarios and educational videos covering topics such as types of cyber-bullying, official complaint procedures, and responsible social media behaviour.

“Children accessing social media often fall prey to rumours within their friends’ groups, and face exclusion. Online games create a virtual environment and ‘avatar’ which feels very real to them. Unfortunately, crimes are committed in this space that can negatively impact a child,” said Ms. Sitara.

Bully Ind creates awareness of scenarios that could make children uncomfortable when they are online, and gives the players possible options to respond to the situations.

“We also direct the player to the right place for logging their complaints related to cyber-bullying in the real world. Schools must understand that physical bullying is different from cyber-bullying,” the researcher said.