: question on data policy for research on extremist social media content
Hi all, I have often had informal conversations with peers about the problem of sharing (violent) extremist content extracted from social media between us, insofar as one could be considered as purveyors of extremist propaganda in doing so, even if one shares such data for scientific purposes. I haven't found any policy of that kind on the internet, though. Do you have some links to such policies or documents, please? Thanks very much! Wishing you a lovely summer, Catherine -- Catherine Bouko Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45 9000 Gent Belgium Bureau: B2.06 http://research.flw.ugent.be/en/catherine.bouko
Not a policy, but this research will be of interest to you: Banchik, A. V. (2020). Disappearing acts: Content moderation and emergent practices to preserve at-risk human rights–related content. New Media & Society. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444820912724 On 8/10/20, 3:06 PM, "Air-L on behalf of cbouko" <air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org on behalf of catherine.bouko@ugent.be> wrote: Hi all, I have often had informal conversations with peers about the problem of sharing (violent) extremist content extracted from social media between us, insofar as one could be considered as purveyors of extremist propaganda in doing so, even if one shares such data for scientific purposes. I haven't found any policy of that kind on the internet, though. Do you have some links to such policies or documents, please? Thanks very much! Wishing you a lovely summer, Catherine -- Catherine Bouko Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45 9000 Gent Belgium Bureau: B2.06 http://research.flw.ugent.be/en/catherine.bouko _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
You might find this piece by data & society helpful. https://datasociety.net/library/oxygen-of-amplification/ On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 12:09 PM Tarleton L. Gillespie <tlg28@cornell.edu> wrote:
Not a policy, but this research will be of interest to you:
Banchik, A. V. (2020). Disappearing acts: Content moderation and emergent practices to preserve at-risk human rights–related content. New Media & Society. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444820912724
On 8/10/20, 3:06 PM, "Air-L on behalf of cbouko" < air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org on behalf of catherine.bouko@ugent.be> wrote:
Hi all,
I have often had informal conversations with peers about the problem of sharing (violent) extremist content extracted from social media between us, insofar as one could be considered as purveyors of extremist propaganda in doing so, even if one shares such data for scientific purposes. I haven't found any policy of that kind on the internet, though. Do you have some links to such policies or documents, please?
Thanks very much!
Wishing you a lovely summer,
Catherine
-- Catherine Bouko
Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45 9000 Gent Belgium Bureau: B2.06 http://research.flw.ugent.be/en/catherine.bouko _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Kolina Koltai, PhD The University of Texas at Austin School of Information kolinakoltai.com
Hi Catherine (and All), This is actually a legal issue that's heavily dependent on the jurisdiction in which you find yourself. In the EU, probably the most restrictive context--or the one in which one needs to be most mindful--is the UK. A useful perspective on holding and accessing extremist and terrorist content within that jurisdiction is this Universities UK document: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/security-... . The Researcher Resources section of the VOX-Pol website may also be useful, esp. if you're interested also in some of the broader ethics issues pertaining in this area; see https://www.voxpol.eu/researcher-resources/. Best, Maura *Prof. Maura Conway* School of Law and Government Dublin City University Glasnevin Dublin 9 Ireland Tel. +353 1 700 6472 E-Mail. maura.conway@dcu.ie Skype. galwaygrrl Twitter: @galwaygrrl Website: http://doras.dcu.ie/view/people/Conway=3AMaura=3A=3A.html ********** VOX-Pol Project on Violent Online Political Extremism Website: http://www.voxpol.eu Twitter: @VOX_Pol On Mon, 10 Aug 2020 at 20:23, Kolina S Koltai <koltai@utexas.edu> wrote:
You might find this piece by data & society helpful.
https://datasociety.net/library/oxygen-of-amplification/
On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 12:09 PM Tarleton L. Gillespie <tlg28@cornell.edu> wrote:
Not a policy, but this research will be of interest to you:
Banchik, A. V. (2020). Disappearing acts: Content moderation and emergent practices to preserve at-risk human rights–related content. New Media & Society. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444820912724
On 8/10/20, 3:06 PM, "Air-L on behalf of cbouko" < air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org on behalf of catherine.bouko@ugent.be> wrote:
Hi all,
I have often had informal conversations with peers about the problem of sharing (violent) extremist content extracted from social media between us, insofar as one could be considered as purveyors of extremist propaganda in doing so, even if one shares such data for scientific purposes. I haven't found any policy of that kind on the internet, though. Do you have some links to such policies or documents, please?
Thanks very much!
Wishing you a lovely summer,
Catherine
-- Catherine Bouko
Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45 9000 Gent Belgium Bureau: B2.06 http://research.flw.ugent.be/en/catherine.bouko _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Kolina Koltai, PhD The University of Texas at Austin School of Information kolinakoltai.com _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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It is a nearly impossible conundrum. Whether or how we study and report the worst human depravity and hatred is complicated by a meta-question: what if the very act of examination and documentation amplifies that which we study? I am struggling myself with QAnon content like this: new(dot)qmap(dot)pub/memes [not rendering a link on purpose] It is a train wreck for civil discourse, democratic governance, and it is animated by race-baiting, election interference by a hostile authoritarian foreign power, and other problematic forms of online speech. It is also spreading like an ideological pandemic. There is "Q-merch" on Amazon. When a spate of news articles appeared in the major media recently about the growth and regulation of QAnon on social platforms, I was both relieved to see a wider discussion of what I see in the data as truly disturbing, but also lying awake at night thinking about the free publicity both the press, other scholars, and my own research may provide. It is a double bind: sunlight is required for transparency but it also fosters awareness and sometimes nurtures growth. A decade ago, it was unclear if University research compliance officers had the digital literacy to navigate these issues. The political landscape online is so vexing and adversarial in 2020, do any of us know what is necessary and sufficient to protect research subjects as well as democratic norms underlying systems of representative government? On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 5:53 AM Maura Conway <maura.conway@dcu.ie> wrote:
Hi Catherine (and All),
This is actually a legal issue that's heavily dependent on the jurisdiction in which you find yourself. In the EU, probably the most restrictive context--or the one in which one needs to be most mindful--is the UK. A useful perspective on holding and accessing extremist and terrorist content within that jurisdiction is this Universities UK document:
https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/security-... .
The Researcher Resources section of the VOX-Pol website may also be useful, esp. if you're interested also in some of the broader ethics issues pertaining in this area; see https://www.voxpol.eu/researcher-resources/.
Best, Maura
*Prof. Maura Conway* School of Law and Government Dublin City University Glasnevin Dublin 9 Ireland
Tel. +353 1 700 6472 E-Mail. maura.conway@dcu.ie Skype. galwaygrrl
Twitter: @galwaygrrl
Website: http://doras.dcu.ie/view/people/Conway=3AMaura=3A=3A.html
**********
VOX-Pol Project on Violent Online Political Extremism
Website: http://www.voxpol.eu
Twitter: @VOX_Pol
On Mon, 10 Aug 2020 at 20:23, Kolina S Koltai <koltai@utexas.edu> wrote:
You might find this piece by data & society helpful.
https://datasociety.net/library/oxygen-of-amplification/
On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 12:09 PM Tarleton L. Gillespie < tlg28@cornell.edu> wrote:
Not a policy, but this research will be of interest to you:
Banchik, A. V. (2020). Disappearing acts: Content moderation and emergent practices to preserve at-risk human rights–related content. New Media & Society. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444820912724
On 8/10/20, 3:06 PM, "Air-L on behalf of cbouko" < air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org on behalf of catherine.bouko@ugent.be> wrote:
Hi all,
I have often had informal conversations with peers about the problem of sharing (violent) extremist content extracted from social media between us, insofar as one could be considered as purveyors of extremist propaganda in doing so, even if one shares such data for scientific purposes. I haven't found any policy of that kind on the internet, though. Do you have some links to such policies or documents, please?
Thanks very much!
Wishing you a lovely summer,
Catherine
-- Catherine Bouko
Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45 9000 Gent Belgium Bureau: B2.06 http://research.flw.ugent.be/en/catherine.bouko _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Kolina Koltai, PhD The University of Texas at Austin School of Information kolinakoltai.com _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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-- Dr. Stuart W. Shulman Founder and CEO, Texifter
Hi Catherine and all, I agree with others that this varies greatly depending on where you are. In Australia, this is in law rather than in policy. Removing “abhorrent violent material” was included in the criminal code following the Christchurch shooting last year, although the scope of content included is quite broad. However, accessing such material for research purposes is a permitted defence. I touched on this briefly in a conference paper last year: http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/2588 <http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/2588> and you can find the legislation here: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019A00038 <https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019A00038> Thanks, Fiona Bradley PhD Candidate, Political Science and International Relations University of Western Australia Twitter: @fiona_bradley ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3622-2794 <http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3622-2794>
On 11 Aug 2020, at 9:57 pm, Shulman, Stu <stu@texifter.com> wrote:
It is a nearly impossible conundrum. Whether or how we study and report the worst human depravity and hatred is complicated by a meta-question: what if the very act of examination and documentation amplifies that which we study?
I am struggling myself with QAnon content like this: new(dot)qmap(dot)pub/memes [not rendering a link on purpose]
It is a train wreck for civil discourse, democratic governance, and it is animated by race-baiting, election interference by a hostile authoritarian foreign power, and other problematic forms of online speech. It is also spreading like an ideological pandemic. There is "Q-merch" on Amazon.
When a spate of news articles appeared in the major media recently about the growth and regulation of QAnon on social platforms, I was both relieved to see a wider discussion of what I see in the data as truly disturbing, but also lying awake at night thinking about the free publicity both the press, other scholars, and my own research may provide.
It is a double bind: sunlight is required for transparency but it also fosters awareness and sometimes nurtures growth. A decade ago, it was unclear if University research compliance officers had the digital literacy to navigate these issues. The political landscape online is so vexing and adversarial in 2020, do any of us know what is necessary and sufficient to protect research subjects as well as democratic norms underlying systems of representative government?
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 5:53 AM Maura Conway <maura.conway@dcu.ie> wrote:
Hi Catherine (and All),
This is actually a legal issue that's heavily dependent on the jurisdiction in which you find yourself. In the EU, probably the most restrictive context--or the one in which one needs to be most mindful--is the UK. A useful perspective on holding and accessing extremist and terrorist content within that jurisdiction is this Universities UK document:
https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/security-... .
The Researcher Resources section of the VOX-Pol website may also be useful, esp. if you're interested also in some of the broader ethics issues pertaining in this area; see https://www.voxpol.eu/researcher-resources/.
Best, Maura
*Prof. Maura Conway* School of Law and Government Dublin City University Glasnevin Dublin 9 Ireland
Tel. +353 1 700 6472 E-Mail. maura.conway@dcu.ie Skype. galwaygrrl
Twitter: @galwaygrrl
Website: http://doras.dcu.ie/view/people/Conway=3AMaura=3A=3A.html
**********
VOX-Pol Project on Violent Online Political Extremism
Website: http://www.voxpol.eu
Twitter: @VOX_Pol
On Mon, 10 Aug 2020 at 20:23, Kolina S Koltai <koltai@utexas.edu> wrote:
You might find this piece by data & society helpful.
https://datasociety.net/library/oxygen-of-amplification/
On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 12:09 PM Tarleton L. Gillespie < tlg28@cornell.edu> wrote:
Not a policy, but this research will be of interest to you:
Banchik, A. V. (2020). Disappearing acts: Content moderation and emergent practices to preserve at-risk human rights–related content. New Media & Society. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444820912724
On 8/10/20, 3:06 PM, "Air-L on behalf of cbouko" < air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org on behalf of catherine.bouko@ugent.be> wrote:
Hi all,
I have often had informal conversations with peers about the problem of sharing (violent) extremist content extracted from social media between us, insofar as one could be considered as purveyors of extremist propaganda in doing so, even if one shares such data for scientific purposes. I haven't found any policy of that kind on the internet, though. Do you have some links to such policies or documents, please?
Thanks very much!
Wishing you a lovely summer,
Catherine
-- Catherine Bouko
Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45 9000 Gent Belgium Bureau: B2.06 http://research.flw.ugent.be/en/catherine.bouko _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Kolina Koltai, PhD The University of Texas at Austin School of Information kolinakoltai.com _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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-- Dr. Stuart W. Shulman Founder and CEO, Texifter _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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participants (6)
-
cbouko -
Fiona Bradley -
Kolina S Koltai -
Maura Conway -
Shulman, Stu -
Tarleton L. Gillespie