EngageMedia envisions the upcoming DRAPAC23 Assembly as a safe space for all participants. Aside from a focus on diversity and inclusion, the event team was intentional in centring privacy and security to minimise potential harm and encourage an environment where attendees can freely share their knowledge and find meaningful opportunities for reflection, networking, and collaboration.
To this end, the Assembly team is implementing a peer-to-peer participant verification system, where registered attendees can vouch for each other as trusted contacts. Aside from helping protect against potential identity fraud or impersonation, the process enables all participants to actively play a role in ensuring an additional level of trust and safety at the event.
The peer-to-peer verification system relies on a chain of trusted contacts connected to the DRAPAC23 core organising team members. Registered attendees who are within three degrees of separation from the DRAPAC23 core organising team members will have access to restricted content on this site, such as the final programme, and restricted spaces at the event.
This process is part of EngageMedia’s ongoing efforts to ensure our work and practices are more inclusive, culturally sensitive, and equitable. The peer verification system is particularly useful in situations where traditional forms of identification like government-issued IDs are not available, accessible, or reliable.
How does it work?
Person A and B are attending the DRAPAC23 Assembly, and have signed up for an account by filling out the form on the Registration page here. But to access the full event program and other key details on the DRAPAC23 website, they will both need to complete the peer-to-peer verification system.
Person A can reach out to B via email, private message, or any other communication means and request B to confirm their identity and vouch for them as a trusted contact. They will provide B with the email address they used to sign up for an account on the DRAPAC23 website.
Person B will then log in to their account on the website and enter A’s email address to complete the verification process.
Once confirmed, the system creates a relationship between Person A and B.
But the process doesn’t stop here, as A and B may not necessarily be connected to the “trust chain”, or the network of DRAPAC23 participants known to each other and connected to the core members.
In the graphic above, each node represents a user account. Tier 1 (T1) represents the core of the trust sphere, the DRAPAC23 core organising team. Tier 2 (T2) users are those who have at least one T1 user vouching for them. T3 users are those with at least one T2 user vouching for them, and this follows for T4, T5, and so on.
What this means is that even if Person B has vouched for Person A, they will not have access to restricted pages on the DRAPAC23 website if they are not connected to the core of the graph. In the graphic above, for instance, the grey nodes may have been vouched by other users but are not connected to the trust chain, so they do not have access to restricted spaces. To gain access, Person A and B must also be vouched by users connected to the core of the trust chain.
REGISTER FOR THE DRAPAC23 ASSEMBLY
EngageMedia also recognises that the peer-to-peer verification system may not work for everyone. For those who are unable to go through this process and would like an alternative means of identity verification, please contact the DRAPAC23 Assembly team at [email protected].
