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"Digital communications Syria."
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Finding Extremists in Online Social Networks
Online extremists’ use of social media poses a new form of threat to the general public. These extremists range from cyberbullies to terrorist organizations. Social media providers often suspend the extremists’ accounts in response to user complaints. However, extremist users can simply create new accounts and continue their activities. In this work we present a new set of operational capabilities to address the threat posed by online extremists in social networks. We use thousands of Twitter accounts related to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to develop behavioral models for these users—in particular, what their accounts look like and with whom they connect. We use these models to track existing extremist users by identifying pairs of accounts belonging to the same user. We then present a model for efficiently searching the social network to find suspended users’ new accounts based on a variant of the classic Pólya’s urn setup. We find a simple characterization of the optimal search policy for this model under fairly general conditions. Our urn model and main theoretical results generalize easily to search problems in other fields.
The electronic companion is available at
https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.2018.1719
.
Journal Article
Media and compassion after digital war: Why digital media haven't transformed responses to human suffering in contemporary conflict
There is a persistent belief in the power of media images to transform the events they depict. Yet despite the instant availability of billions of images of human suffering and death in the continuous and connective digital glare of social media, the catastrophes of contemporary wars, such as in Syria and Yemen, unfold relentlessly. There are repeated expressions of surprise by some in the West when the dissemination of images of suffering and wars, particularly in mainstream news media, does not translate into a de-escalation of conflict. In this article I consider today's loosening of the often presumed relationship between media representation, knowledge and response under the conditions of “digital war”. This is the digital disruption of the relationship between warfare and society in which all sides participate in the uploading and sharing of information on, and images and videos of, conflict. Is it the case that the capacity of images of human injury and death to bring about change, and the expectation that they would stir practical intervention in wars, is and has been exaggerated? Even if we are moved or shocked upon being confronted by such images, does this translate into some form of action, individual or otherwise? In this article I contend that the saturation of information and images of human suffering and death in contemporary warfare has not ushered in a new era of “compassion fatigue”. Rather, algorithmically charged outrage is a proxy for effects. It is easy to misconstrue the velocity of linking and liking and sharing as some kind of mass action or mass movement. Humanitarian catastrophes slowly unfold in an age of continuous and connective digital glare, and yet they are unseen. If the imploded battlefield of digital war affording the most proximate and persistent view of human suffering and death in history cannot ultimately mobilize radically effective forms of public response, it is difficult to imagine what will.
Journal Article
Sober masculinity and nurturing femininity: a gendered analysis of the Syrian presidency Instagram account
Since July 2013, Syrianpresidency, the “official Instagram account for the Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic” has featured a high percentage of photos of President Bashar al-Assad and of his wife, Asma. This article takes Syrianpresidency as an important aspect of the Assad government’s digital public diplomacy, because of its strong visuality. Using case study and content analysis approaches, it surveys a sample of Instagram posts from January 2016, when the Syrian military began retaking territory from ISIS, through March 2020, covering Syria’s initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that Syrianpresidency frames the Assads for a regional and international audience through the lens of a ‘gendered modernity,’ portraying them as companionate spouses serving Syrians in complementary ways. Syrianpresidency aims its public diplomacy at domestic and foreign audiences, working to project a positive image as part of its efforts to manage and ultimately end the Syria conflict. In doing so, it engages in an updated form of what Wedeen terms ‘as-if’ politics and a politics of erasure, effacing the regime’s violence and citizen resistance through silence.
Journal Article
Mediated Public Diplomacy of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria: The Synergistic Use of Terrorism, Social Media and Branding
This study aims to provide an initial theoretical model for understanding and analyzing the mediated public diplomacy strategy of virtual states. It examines the mediated public diplomacy strategy of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its ability to synchronize terrorism tactics with communication strategies to gain media access and exposure, push news frames that serve its interests, and target stakeholders with a dual message using sophisticated branding strategies that resonate with cultural values and help it ultimately recruit supporters and deter foes.
Journal Article
The global television news agencies and their handling of user generated content video from Syria
This article examines the role that the global television news agencies play in the handling of user generated content (UGC) video from Syria. In the almost complete absence of independent journalists, Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse are sourcing citizen videos from YouTube channels and passing it on to their clients. This article examines the verification processes that the agencies undertake to check on the veracity of this material and asks whether the agencies have abandoned independent journalism to activists. This article provides a comparative analysis of two months' worth of UGC videos from Syria that were broadcast by the global news agencies after Russia joined the bombing campaign in Syria in late 2015. It analyses the content, verification processes and information that the agencies give their clients about this material. Through interviews with senior editors from the three organisations, questions of certainty versus probability are explored, along with ethical arguments about propaganda versus information transparency. The global news agencies are the engine drivers of international news coverage and their decisions and interpretation feed directly into the media ecology of mainstream and then alternative media.
Journal Article
Too Crowded for Crowdsourced Journalism: Reddit, Portability, and Citizen Participation in the Syrian Crisis
This article explores the complexity of citizen participation in social media and crowdsourced journalism by utilizing the case of r/SyrianCivilWar, the sub-community of Reddit where users discuss the Syrian crisis. In examining the limitations and affordances of the platform, the article identifies features that characterize the r/SyrianCivilWar community, namely: algorithmic driven public discourse, deliberative communication, reflexivity and transparency, and database journalism. These features shape the functioning of the community and have broader implications for citizen crowdsourced journalism projects. The article demonstrates that alternative media practices, such as crowdsourced journalism, are limited in their capacity to reach mainstream consciousness. In the commodified landscape of media, portability-a capacity for complex issues to be distilled into a simple or simplified concept-is made important.
Journal Article
