Lawrence Peter Ampofo
Download 1.29 Mb.
|
Thesis OutlineThe structure of this thesis has been designed to clearly reflect the findings of the research undertaken, contribute to understandings of the potential use of Web 3.0 in terrorism and counter-terrorism communication strategies and, ultimately, to advance the literature on online communication initiatives through the analysis of the changing nature of online behaviour. Analysis of online behaviour in relation to the Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004 contributes to understandings of technology, terrorism and counter-terrorism in Spain by providing the contextual setting against which various issues were analysed. The following issues emerged from the semi-structured interviews and the internet research and they are presented chronologically in the thesis. Immigration is located in Chapter Four, narratives in Chapter Five, cybercrime in Chapter Six and communities in Chapter Seven. Internet research analysing the behaviour of Spanish language online users and communities reacting to the death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 and in relation to the Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004 was also conducted. The principal reason for this particular analysis is that the death of Osama bin Laden was considered the ideal context in which to observe the saliency of the conclusions presented in Chapter Eight. In addition, it was correctly anticipated that online discussion of the death of Osama bin Laden in relation to 11-M would be analytically congruent with the findings from the internet research conducted in previous chapters. Such an analysis, as a result, provides relevant insight into the ways that the availability of new technologies increases the capacities of terrorist and counter-terrorist agencies to achieve their communication objectives, particularly those which include the use of contemporary technologies such as social networking sites. In addition, public diplomacy, as a central theme, is interwoven within the thesis as a means to explore ways in which political organisations communicate to domestic and overseas publics using digital campaigns and initiatives. For the purpose of this thesis, public diplomacy is defined as the engagement of target populations by a state or other entity seeking to convince audiences of the legitimacy of its core narratives (Hope, 2009). As such, public diplomacy is presented as a lens through which analysis of the nature of online behaviour in relation to terrorism in Spain can be conducted, in addition to supporting the introduction of the Terrorism 3.0 model. Chapter One takes, as its theoretical starting point, the notion that the internet and the Web are social and cultural spaces where influential actors and communities assert “influence” over others. For the purpose of this thesis, influence refers to the definition of users attaining online influence as outlined by Baldwin, ‘[Influencers are] conduits for human based filtering and content discovery within their communities, as members of the community look to the person of influence to connect them to people and content they should trust, and fuel positive community growth’ (Baldwin, 2009: 1). It is in light of the socio-technical context introduced in this chapter that the thesis examines the extent to which the availability of new technologies increases the capacities of terrorist and counter-terrorist agencies to achieve their communication objectives. The attainment of such understanding is of considerable importance, particularly as the transition to Web 3.0, outlined in detail in this chapter, assumes greater prominence in the future, and publics use these technologies to uncover new ways of engaging with the issue of terrorism. This chapter analyses the socio-technical development of the internet and the Web as a means of demonstrating Spanish society’s transition to “Terrorism 3.0”, a concept provided by the author as a result of the thesis findings, to describe a distinct form of engagement with the issue of terrorism online that is concurrently networked, mobile, ubiquitous and pervasive. Chapter Two examines contemporary Spain’s experience of terrorism; first it situates the Spanish and French experiences within general trends of globalisation and terrorism, introducing the theories of Bobbitt and Barnett who outline these trends which are used as a theoretical framework throughout the thesis. The chapter draws upon original interviews as well as requisite scholarship. It juxtaposes this with an analysis of terrorism in France, which is used to provide greater context, illuminating the reasons for Spain’s particular experience with terrorism (during which, the two countries’ experiences, at times, overlap). The chapter, therefore, provides an ideal context within which to test the theoretical frameworks chosen to underpin explanations for terrorism in these regions, which come from theories on globalisation and violence. In addition, Chapter Two introduces and analyses key terms such as terrorism and Jihadism. Jihadism is defined as ‘the political culture promoting the goals, practices, and ideology of Al-Qaeda (as an idea and set of networks) rather than to broader forms of political Islam which may also advocate violence’ (Hoskins & O’Loughlin, 2010: 7). While the definition of terrorism is a vigorously contested term (Stampnitzky, 2011), this thesis has used the definition as provided by the Spanish State as encompassing both interior and exterior terrorism: ‘External Terrorism is that which is committed outside the borders of the state of origin or within countries of origin but against the interests of other countries…such as attacks, sabotage, assassinations and kidnappings…[t]here are other aspects, which are linked in respect to international terrorism which should be taken into account. The existence of mercenaries and dangerous material that is very sophisticated as well as the possibilities that new technologies offer to obtain information about material that could be involved in international terrorism adds another factor to the terrorism phenomenon. Interior Terrorism is that which is born inside a state and is conducted against a specific state…This terrorism could maintain international links of support between groups, maintain administration camps or take refuge in sanctuaries’3 (Revisión Estratégica de la Defensa, 2003: 127). Chapter Three sets out the overarching methodological framework used to comprehensively analyse understandings of various actors and communities towards technology, terrorism and counter-terrorism in Spain. This framework emerges from literature reviews and semi-structured interviews of both counter-terrorism practitioners and other academic and commercial experts. Secondly, the author developed an internet research methodology to systematically analyse the behaviour and commentary of online users in relation to discussions of the 11 March 2004 Madrid terrorist attacks. For the purpose of this thesis, the author utilises the definition of “internet research” as provided by the scholar Anette Markham, who outlined that the discipline can be described as ‘[t]he study of sociocultural phenomena that are mediated by, interwoven with, or rely on the internet for their composition or function’ (Markham, 2010: 2, cited in Silverman (ed.) 2010, emphasis in original). In this description, Markham asserts that internet research is related to the study of the ways people experience cultural interactions and artefacts that occur on the internet and that a wide range of methodologies can be used to study such interactions (Markham, 2010, cited in Silverman (ed.), 2010). In order to understand the emergence of Terrorism 3.0 in Spain and how the availability of new technologies increases the capacities of terrorist and counter-terrorist agencies to achieve their communication objectives, Chapter Three provides a comprehensive overview of methodological approaches and tools through which to analyse the nature of online behaviour in this emerging context, and explains why certain methodologies were chosen over others for the purpose of this thesis. Chapter Four analyses the relationship of the issue of immigration to technology, terrorism, and counter-terrorism, maintaining that understandings of this relationship should be perceived within the theoretical framework of commensuration as a social process. The issue of immigration emerged as a central theme during the course of the interviews, and, in addition, the internet research revealed that online users referenced the issue of immigration and terrorism most prevalently during the two years following the attack in comparison with other issues. Commensuration and the securitisation of discourse relating to immigration, terrorism and counter-terrorism are key terms examined in the analysis of online behaviour and discussions related to the terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11 March 2004. Commensuration refers to the process of the conflation of independent variables or issues, to create one dependent variable, when certain information is discarded and the remains are formed into something new (Espeland & Stevens, 1998). Commensuration and the securitisation of discourse relating to immigration, terrorism and counter-terrorism are key terms examined in the analysis of online behaviour and discussions related to the terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11 March 2004. Commensuration as a social process refers to the measurement of features that are usually represented by differing units merged into one unified metric. As a result, independent variables, or issues, are combined to create one dependent variable, as certain information is discarded and the remains are formed into an entirely new metric (Espeland & Stevens, 1998). Commensuration as a social process is similar to the notion of conflation, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as the combination of ‘(two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, etc.) into one’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2012). However, Espeland and Stevens note that the main difference between commensuration as a social process and conflation is that it is possible to conceive of commensuration as a device of social thought and a mode of power. The authors wrote of the topic that ‘Commensuration transforms qualities into quantities, difference into magnitude. It is a way to reduce and simplify disparate information into numbers that can easily be compared. This transformation allows people to quickly grasp, represent, and compare differences. One virtue of commensuration is that it offers standardized ways of constructing proxies for uncertain and elusive qualities. Another virtue is that it condenses and reduces the amount of information people have to process, which is useful for representing value and simplifying decision-making’ (Espeland and Stevens, 1998: 317). The fact that the previous quote underscores commensuration’s propensity to expunge complexity means that certain aspects of social life that have value can become lost or rendered extraneous. However, Espeland and Stevens claim that the process is essential to understanding how people make sense of the world; ‘[w]e argue that commensuration is no mere technical process but a fundamental feature of social life. Commensuration as a practical task requires enormous organization and discipline that has become largely invisible to us…Commensuration changes the terms of what can be talked about, how we value, and how we treat what we value. It is symbolic, inherently interpretive, deeply political, and too important to be left implicit in sociological work’ (Espeland and Stevens, 1998: 315). Commensuration is a particularly important concept in Chapter Four as the analysis uncovers instances where users of social media services conceptualise the issues of immigration and terrorism as one ostensible topic. This occurrence is curious when the official data and testimony from terrorism and immigration experts considers the issues as separate. Securitisation, as outlined by Ole Wœver and Barry Buzan, is defined as ‘the intersubjective establishment of an existential threat with a saliency sufficient to have substantial political effects’ (Buzan et al. 1998: 8). Chapter Four also includes a chronological outline of events surrounding the terrorist attacks on 11 March 2004 in Madrid and provides the reader with the appropriate context for subsequent analysis of the ways in which various issues, namely immigration and cybercrime, were conflated by different actors during, and in the aftermath, of the terrorist event. Chapter Five focuses on communication and “influence” online within public debates concerning technology, terrorism and counter-terrorism. It examines the ways in which narratives from the Spanish Government and from terrorist organisations were interpreted by online users from 2004 to 2010, and how communication works online within identified theoretical frameworks. A comprehensive analysis of online behaviour and discussions related to the terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11 March 2004 provides insight into the flow of information and online user engagement, and sheds further light on commensuration and the securitisation of the issues introduced in Chapter Four. The findings indicate that the construction of effective narratives is of great importance to contemporary terrorist organisations, as media technologies, conceptualised as a force multiplier, have the potential to change terrorist organisations from agents of violence into agents of influence, capable of shaping the attitudes and behaviours of other online users. This emphasises the importance of creating and maintaining effective narratives in online communication and, additionally, for counter-terrorism organisations to become cognisant of shaping such narratives to meet their communication objectives. Chapter Six argues that understandings of cybercrime, terrorism and counter-terrorism are intrinsically bound within understandings of immigration, technology and terrorism. The semi-structured interviews focused on the use of Web technologies to commit the Madrid attacks. However, the internet research indicated that this issue was not prevalent amongst general online users and that discussion of this was located primarily in epistemic and practitioner communities. This relates strongly to the findings in chapters Four and Five, indicating that certain issues become conflated using commensuration as a social process through the effective creation and maintenance of narratives. Chapter Seven focuses on the myriad ways communities develop understandings of technology, terrorism and counter-terrorism and, especially, how online communities attempt to assert influence over a discussion in order to affect the resulting behaviour and affiliation of that group and its members. These informed amateurs, adroit in the use of new media for communication, have been termed the new intellectuals (Fisher, 2003). Analysis of the behaviour of online communities related to the Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004 highlights the complexity inherent within interactions between communities online, emphasising the utility of a multi-directional approach as opposed to a top-down approach. This is enhanced by further findings from the internet research which intimated that the focus of online users shifted to the role of communities, particularly in later years following the 11-M attacks, in 2009 and 2010. In particular, online users focused on the ways groups of people sought and provided sympathy, empathy and support to those affected by the attacks. This thesis incorporates the Patterns of Communication model by Lance Bennett which was derived from research and observations based on protests directed towards trade and development organisations and corporations. According to Bennett, the research conducted ‘supports a number of generalizations about the Internet and activist politics, four of which are reported here. The intriguing feature of each generalization is that communication practices are hard to separate from organisational and political capabilities, suggesting personal digital communication is a foundation of…identity-driven subpolitics’ (Bennett, 2003: 12). Bennett’s Patterns of Communication were chosen as the framework within which to situate the analysis of online communities in Chapter Seven because, following the conclusion of the social media analysis relating to the terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2004, it was determined that the eventual composition of the online community groups was most similar to that outlined by Bennett’s Patterns of Communication. The nature of the communities analysed in the thesis, as outlined in greater detail in Chapter Seven, is described by Bennett himself; ‘Various uses of the Internet and other digital media facilitate the loosely structured networks, the weak identity ties, and the issue and demonstration campaign organizing that define a new global politics. In particular…[specific] configurations of digital networks facilitate: permanent campaigns, the growth of broad networks despite (or because of) relatively weak social identity and ideology ties, the transformation of both individual member organizations and the growth patterns of whole networks...[t]he same qualities that make these communication-based politics durable also make them vulnerable to problems of control, decision-making and collective identity’ (Bennett, 2003: 33). Although Bennett’s Patterns of Communication is the framework employed throughout Chapter Seven of this thesis to understand the nature of online communities, it is not without limitations. There exist alternative patterns of communication, which describe the formation of online communities that have not been used in this work. One model used to describe the nature and composition of online political discussion is the Liberal Individualist model of communication which encompasses four separate traits particular to online discussion, which are monologue; a trait in which the user exercises his or her own desire to express themselves at the expense of dialogue, personal revelation; the propensity for the disclosure of information about oneself in a public computer mediated forum, and similar to another trait seen in liberal individualist communication, which is personal showcasing, defined as the tendency for people to reveal details about themselves by using online portals as advertising platforms for self-created content and finally, Liberal Individualist communities are characterised by the presence of flaming which is defined as ‘hostile intentions characterised by words of profanity, obscenity and insults that inflict harm to a person or an organisation resulting from uninhibited behaviour’ (Freelon, 2010: 8). Another communication model outlined by Freelon for the enhanced understanding of online communities is the Communitarian Model. The communitarian model refers to online public spaces ‘that are predominantly communitarian, uphold the cultivation of social cohesion and group identity above the fulfilment of individual desires. The communitarian model can be characterised by the following five traits which are ideological fragmentation, mobilization, community identification, in-group reciprocity and in-group questioning’ (Freelon, 2010: 9). Ideological fragmentation refers to the extent to which online users organise themselves into online communities which are politically homogenous, as communitarian groups rarely, if ever, engage with others from outside. Mobilisation refers to the extent to which online users who more naturally fit into the communitarian model are most likely to mobilise for political action, either online or offline. Another measure of the communitarian model is the extent to which members of that community envision themselves, as part of a community, or the propensity for intra-ideological response. Similarly, intra-ideological questioning is considered to denote one’s propensity to engage with other users within the community or group. Chapter Eight presents the main conclusions of the thesis, including policy recommendations and suggestions for future research. Following the research conducted within the previous chapters, the author contends that the term Terrorism 3.0 should be introduced to conceptualise the nature of online behaviour in relation to the issue of terrorism and reflect the fact that society is currently in the transition towards Web 3.0, a transition that is already partly but unevenly realised. The analysis in this thesis, which has examined how different groups have engaged with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 in the 2004-11 period, helps identify how online users are likely to understand and make use of Web 3.0. In order to demonstrate the saliency of the conclusions reached in the thesis, and the transition to Terrorism 3.0, an analysis of online behaviour and discussions in Spanish language related to the death of Osama bin Laden was carried out in real-time (1-5 May 2011). As a terrorism-related event that indirectly relates to Spain, and one, it was anticipated, that it would generate extensive interest and activity from online users, the findings reflect the expediency and complexity inherent within the conclusions outlined in the chapter. The chapter concludes by asserting that the emergence of Terrorism 3.0 requires that new internet research approaches are necessary in order to gain insight into the optimal ways of engaging with citizens to prevent another terrorist attack. If such knowledge is to be attained then it could lead to new ways of conducting counter-terrorism, which place socio-technical and influence-focused methods at its nucleus. Directory: portal -> files -> 4733003 files -> Impact case study (ref3b) files -> Ethics and Factual Television: a short history files -> P. O. Box 27, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland tel. 358-9-191 58080 / 22216; fax 358-9-191 58096 / 23008 files -> The impact of a pledge campaign and the promise of publicity: a randomized controlled trial of charitable donations files -> Diversity and Voice: the Political Participation of Young People in the European Union files -> Chapter 15 a voice in Decision Making: young children in Denmark Stig Broström Introduction Download 1.29 Mb. Share with your friends:
|