Welcome to Volume 10, Issue 1 of the VOX-Pol Newsletter.
NEW VOX-Pol PUBLICATION: REASSURE
VOX-Pol is pleased to present the latest report in the VOX-Pol publication series, titled Online Extremism and Terrorism Researchers’ Security, Safety, and Resilience: Findings from the Field, authored by Elizabeth Pearson, Joe Whittaker, Till Baaken, Sara Zeiger, Farangiz Atamuradova, and Maura Conway. Elizabeth Pearson, the lead author, said:
“The REASSURE report, vitally, documents for the first time the harms online extremism and terrorism researchers can face, and how they seek to avoid them. It’s clear many researchers need better protections. Academic institutions need to take responsibility and work with researchers to ensure that important online fieldwork on extremism and terrorism is as safe as possible.”
Read the report in full and for free HERE. Find out more about the REASSURE project HERE.
VOX-Pol SPRING 2023 GUEST LECTURE SERIES
In February, VOX-Pol organised a guest lecture for students at higher education institutions. The lecture was the first in the VOX-Pol Spring 2023 Lecture Series, and Dr Erin Saltman presented on Cross-Platform Approaches to Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism Online. The presentation reviewed advances in cross-platform solutions advanced through the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) which was founded in 2017 by technology platforms to give structure and support for countering terrorism and violent extremism online.
If you miss any of the lectures in this series, you can view them on the VOX-Pol YouTube channel HERE. The next lecture in the series is ‘Emerging Methodologies Panel: Researching the Metaverse‘ on Wednesday 15 March at 4pm UK time.
VOX-Pol WEBINARS: WATCH ONLINE
VOX-Pol hosted a public webinar on 16 February 2023, on Content Moderation and (Violent) Extremism. If you missed it you can view it now on the VOX-Pol YouTube Channel. The focus of the workshop was on the efficacy of content moderation with regard to accelerationism, democracy and (violent) extremism. Panellists explored theoretical issues such as definitional clarity, and drew on data from case studies to understand how YouTube was used to promote partisan content in the 2022 Brazilian election. Another case study discussed the intersections between the wellness community and conspiracy theories during the pandemic and post-pandemic period and how these intersections continue to unfold and change. This workshop builds on papers being collated for a special issue for Policy & Internet which will come out in the last quarter of 2023. The event was chaired by VOX-Pol’s James Fitzgerald.
OTHER VOX-Pol PUBLICATIONS
- Macdonald, S., Pearson, E., Scrivens, R. and Whittaker, J., 2023. Using online data in terrorism research. In A Research Agenda for Terrorism Studies (pp. 145-158). Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Kingdon, A. and Ylitalo-James, E., 2023. Using social media to research terrorism and extremism. In A Research Agenda for Terrorism Studies (pp. 131-143). Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Clemmow, C., Rottweiler, B., Wolfowicz, M., Bouhana, N., Marchment, Z. and Gill, P., 2023. The Whole is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts: Risk and Protective Profiles for Vulnerability to Radicalization. Justice Quarterly, pp.1-27.
- Baele, S., Brace, L. and Ging, D., 2023. A Diachronic Cross-Platforms Analysis of Violent Extremist Language in the Incel Online Ecosystem. Terrorism and Political Violence, pp.1-24.
- Yilmaz, K. and Atamuradova, F., 2023. A comparative analysis of ISIS Channels On Telegram. Sicurezza, Terrorismo e Società, pp.67-85.
IN THE MEDIA
- Israeli military calls settler attacks on Palestinians ‘actions of terror’ after weekend of violence, Egypt Independent, 28 February 2023.
- Shamima Begum story, BBC Radio 4, 7 February 2023.
- Terrorism: Police concern over teen far-right extremism, BBC, 26 January 2023.
- Task force tackling online terror content could unite tech firms and police, report says, The National, 25 January 2023.
- Opinion: Brazil’s rioters may have renewed the fight on Big Tech’s failings on democracy-damaging disinformation, Business Post, 12 January 2023.