Sourced only through user opinions and lacking hard statistics on local crime, the SketchFactor app that promises to let users know how safe an area is, crime-wise, has been met with a flood of skepticism and criticism that the app's creators say is unfair.
SketchFactor aims to rate the safety of neighborhoods based on user reports. But because SketchFactor doesn't dovetail user reports with local crime statistics, critics of the newly launched app have dubbed it as a divisive tool that has a potential for fertilizing racist thought.
But the creators of SketchFactor are slamming news reports that cite the software's potential for misuse. No news organization has attempted to reach out to SketchFactor to learn more about the app, claim the app's creators on SketchFactor's website.
"We're disappointed that certain publications have taken a super silly picture and done so much to slam us without actually talking to us," stated SketchFactor. "People are entitled to their opinions. That's legit. But slamming SketchFactor without having a conversation is unprofessional."
The SketchFactor app has tools for reporting racial profiling, harassment, low lighting, desolate areas and unusual events -- even snooping vehicles could add a bit of a sketch factor to neighborhoods. It's a tool for everyone, the creators reason, and call it a crowdsourced navigation app. Reports on areas considerd sketchy will stay live about a year, they said, and it will show how long it's been since a visitor posted their impression.
"These hit pieces have attacked the founders personally -- we get it, they need clicks," stated SketchFactor. "However, the reporters of these pieces never contacted us, never interviewed us, and the app wasn't even live when they wrote it."
Calling out SketchFactor's creators, Dan Herrington and Allison McGuire, and drawing the duo's race into the conversation may have cheapened solid arguments about the app's potentially divisive nature, which poses the threat of galvanize any one racial groups against others by using language that warns users about high concentrations of other ethnic groups.
Seeta Pena Gangadharan, a senior research fellow at the Open Technology Institute of the New America Foundation, weighed in on SketchFactor cautiously, stating the app will only be as good as its the developers and its community.
"A tool like SketchFactor might actually be incredibly powerful for a community in building safety by allowing people to share stories, but it really does depend on the context," stated Gangadharan. "You could imagine a community that might have a xenophobic tendencies or exclusionary tendencies to use an app like that as an extension of already existing biases."
