ethics

By Antonia Vaughan The use of internet data in academic research without informed consent (covert research) is subject to a number of ethical quandaries. Here, the particular considerations that researching the radical right imposes are teased out, such as whether terms of service can be taken as a form of consent; whether internet data is ...

This is the fourth and final in a series of four original Blog posts; the first is HERE the second is HERE the third is HERE. [Ed.] By Matti Pohjonen The previous cluster of methods looked at in the blog post series included methods developed to extrapolate insight from the content produced online and on social ...

This is the third in a series of four original Blog posts; the first is HERE and the second is HERE. [Ed.] By Matti Pohjonen The previous blog posts looked at the costs and benefits of using network analysis to identify extremist networks. It suggested that one challenge in such network analysis-based research approaches is ...

This is the second in a series of four original Blog posts; the first is HERE. [Ed.] By Matti Pohjonen The first blog post in this series explored how researchers interested in computational methods can assess the trade-off between the validity of the methods used and the potentially adverse social costs of using them in ...

This series of four blog posts builds on discussions had during the ‘Inside the Black Box of “Terrorism Informatics”: A Cost-benefit Analysis of Using Computational Techniques in Violent Online Political Extremism Research’ workshop organised by VOX-Pol in 2018. [Ed.] By Matti Pohjonen One of the most pressing challenges in research on violent online extremism is ...

VOX-Pol is pleased to launch a new section on our website, titled Researcher Resources. This essential and easy to navigate resource collects and categorises information for researchers working in the areas of online online extremism and terrorism, including particularly graduate students, early career researchers, and those new to the field, but we feel certain also ...

Read in German Introducing the REASSURE Project Academic research into online extremism and terrorism carries unique risks. The first is repeated exposure to distressing content, such as the detailed analysis of thousands of videos or images produced by ISIS. The second is the potential to be targeted by illicit actors, online and offline, through doxing, ...

By Jillian C. York and Eliot Harmon Internet Companies Must Adopt Consistent Rules and Transparent Moderation Practices Big online platforms tend to brag about their ability to filter out violent and extremist content at scale, but those same platforms refuse to provide even basic information about the substance of those removals. How do these platforms ...

VOX-Pol has released its latest report in the VOX-Pol publication series, titled Reconciling Impact and Ethics: An Ethnography of Research in Violent Online Political Extremism, authored by Dounia Mahlouly, on 23 July 2019. About the Report Gathering empirical evidence from interviews and focus groups, this study highlights some of the ethical dilemmas face d by the academic ...

VOX-Pol’s Coordinator, Prof. Maura Conway (Dublin City University) was in Ottawa, Canada from 24 – 27 March, 2019, for a week-long event series, organised by Public Safety Canada’s Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence, to further Canada’s National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence. The Canada Centre’s 2019 Event Series brought together ...