Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems Hira Herrington no longer carries a badge and doesn’t wear a cape, but he certainly is a defender of at-risk people.
Before becoming a full-time instructor, Herrington got an up-close and in-person look at the horrors of human trafficking as a part-time deputy providing criminal investigations support for an Arkansas sheriff’s office. Now, he and his multi-disciplinary team of Ferris staff and students are producing an animated short film to inform elementary school students about the dangers of cyber predators, who increasingly use social media to target and exploit victims for crimes from fraud to abduction and human trafficking.
The film will use a retelling of the fable of “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” to teach children that people online may not be who they seem. Funded by a Merit Grant from The Ferris Foundation, the project is intended to instill behaviors in children that will help prevent them from becoming victims of cyber predators. Students in Assistant Professor of Social Work Elizabeth Post’s class wrote the film’s script, members of the Alpha Psi Omega Theater Honor Society provided voiceovers, a team from the Music and Entertainment Business program led by Assistant Professor Paul Kwant are providing the film’s musical score, and Sports Entertainment Hospitality Management Adjunct Instructor and university Coalition Against Slavery co-chair Karen Kiio provided operational assistance. DW Video & Multimedia are providing direction and production services.
It isn’t the first time Herrington has applied the tools of his high-tech trade to a compelling human cause. Under his direction, students in his CIS capstone course developed a website for the Meceola Human Trafficking Task Force. Part of an Academic Service Learning project, the site provided information about the task force, human trafficking and cyber security for children.
The film is expected to be complete in March 2019 and will be released for distribution across the country to more than 200 agencies and nonprofits working to protect children from cyber predators and human traffickers. It also will be posted to social media sites to extend its reach to children and parents.
“This film has the potential to have a positive impact not just locally but across the United States,” said Herrington.
For more on the positive impact Ferris of outreach and service learning activities, click here.
To help The Ferris Foundation fund more worthy initiatives like Herrington’s, visit ferris.edu/giving.