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VOX-Pol Guest Lecture Series, Autumn 2023

Name: Dr Joe Whittaker

Title: Catch 22: Researcher Welfare and Institutional Ethics within Online Terrorism and Extremism Research

Outline: “Recent years have seen an increase in concern over the welfare of researchers who regularly engage with extremist and terrorist content online. This comprises external (such as death threats, doxing, and trolling), internal (psychological issues surrounding engagement with content), and professional issues. This lecture focuses on an important and understudied aspect of the issue of researcher welfare; the navigation of ethics committees. Drawing on interview-based research with 39 academics, Joe will discuss researchers’ experiences with the ethical application process; how and whether researcher welfare is considered; and the concern that institutions will make it more difficult to conduct research in future. These issues leave online extremism researchers in a “Catch 22” in which they either have little institutional oversight but experience harms conducting their work, or do have oversight, but with more barriers put up.”

VOX-Pol Blog Post.

The report begins by outlining some of the broad knowledge around the idea of mass persuasion, before focusing specifically on lessons that have been learned in the field of P/CVE. This is followed by a synthesis of existing “How To” guides for the creation of strategic communications from a range of policy and practitioner stakeholders. Then, we discuss specific knowledge of audiovisual content, particularly considerations for short-form video content. The report concludes by outlining how stakeholders, including social media platforms, can monitor, measure, and evaluate the impact of this type of content.

This guide is intended to help creators producing or thinking about making shortform video content seeking to counter extremism. Our goal is not to tell you what to create; your original content is what makes your channel creative and organic. Instead, we hope to provide you with tools and tips to create stronger content that harnesses evidence from decades of academic research. Creating short-form video content (with expected video length to be 15-60 seconds) that counters extremism (both violent and nonviolent) and promotes positive values is a powerful way to engage with your audience. To help you succeed in this mission, we have compiled a guide that not only inspires creativity but also provides practical tips for further success.

VOX-Pol Blog post.

VOX-Pol Blog post.