While this Telegram Bot is not operational yet, it intents to streamline the procedure to report a safety incident anonymously* into a single application (Telegram). It is a question-answer based text user interface, and aims to collect information about the incident including date, time, location, category, and description, in a conversational manner which is similar to chatting with a person on Telegram. The collected data is added to the database of incidents collected by safeyelli.in and is used for safety analysis, and contributing to a better understanding of the safety dynamics of an area as well as to understand which parameters affect the safety.
Anonymously* : The only user specific information that we can obtain is the User ID, which to my knowledge cannot be traced back to the Username on Telegram. I said "can obtain" because, though it is possible, we are not storing the User ID anywhere.
- Reporting Incidents: Users can interact with the Telegram bot to report personal safety incidents that they have experienced. The bot will prompt them for information such as the date, time, location, category, and description of the incident, and collect the data in an anonymous manner.
- Anonymous Reporting: The bot ensures that all information is collected anonymously, without requiring any personal identification information, to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the users.
The bot is under development now. The aim is to make reporting as seamless as possible while making it empathetic in a way, so that users don't have to go through the same upsetting feelings while describing the incident.
- To provide the option of providing an address, which can then be geocoded, or allow location sharing.
- Geocoding addresses would possibly be inaccurate with numerous issues associated, this could be adopted a two pronged strategy, possibly providing both options, or by letting the user verify the geocoded location
- To give date and time prompt buttons to make number formats uniform. (dd mm yyyy, hh:mm)
- To make the conversation more empathetic in terms of language.
- Refer to Python Telegram Bot documentation for all possible features.
pip install python-telegram-bot- Can use Replit to run the python code on a server and make the bot run 24x7.
- Telegram Bot Token: You will need a Telegram bot token to authenticate and interact with the Telegram API. You can generate a token by creating a new bot on Telegram using BotFather.