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Determining the role of the Internet in violent extremism and terrorism: six suggestions for progressing research

Conway, Maura orcid logoORCID: 0000-0003-4216-8592 (2016) Determining the role of the Internet in violent extremism and terrorism: six suggestions for progressing research. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 40 (1). pp. 77-98. ISSN 1057-610X

Abstract
Some scholars and others are skeptical of a significant role for the Internet in processes of violent radicalization. There is increasing concern on the part of other scholars, and increasingly also policymakers and publics, that easy availability of violent extremist content online may have violent radicalizing effects. This article identifies a number of core questions regarding the interaction of violent extremism and terrorism and the Internet, particularly social media, that have yet to be adequately addressed and supplies a series of six follow-up suggestions, flowing from these questions, for progressing research in this area. These suggestions relate to (1) widening the range of types of violent online extremism being studied beyond violent jihadis; (2) engaging in more comparative research, not just across ideologies, but also groups, countries, languages, and social media platforms; (3) deepening our analyses to include interviewing and virtual ethnographic approaches; (4) up-scaling or improving our capacity to undertake “big data” collection and analysis; (5) outreaching beyond terrorism studies to become acquainted with, for example, the Internet Studies literature and engaging in interdisciplinary research with, for example, computer scientists; and (6) paying more attention to gender as a factor in violent online extremism.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:Extremism; Internet; ISIS; Online; Research; Right; Social Media; Twitter; YouTube
Subjects:Social Sciences > International relations
Social Sciences > Gender
Social Sciences > Terrorism
Social Sciences > Communication
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science
Research Initiatives and Centres > Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction
Research Initiatives and Centres > Centre for International Studies (CIS)
DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > School of Law and Government
Publisher:Taylor & Francis
Official URL:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1057610...
Copyright Information:© 2016 Taylor & Francis
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
Funders:European Framework Programme 7
ID Code:21238
Deposited On:22 Jun 2016 11:12 by Maura Conway . Last Modified 27 Aug 2018 13:37
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