This short diagram and explanation briefly introduces researchers to the adaptive event-profiling tool STEER that can be used for event detection.
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“Event Detection” is the use of open-source data (including social media) to detect the digital traces of an “event”, and setting up a collection of data around that event to provide situational awareness. An “event” can be anything from an online phenomenon (ex: a conversation around a topic taking place in social media), to a revolution happening half-way around the world that is being tweeted about by thousands of demonstrators in real time.
Although “Event Detection” has traditionally been rooted in the emergency response and crisis-mapping communities, the utility of this approach is increasingly being recognized by counterterrorism officials. Event detection, for example, can be used to recognize terrorist events when they occur abroad and to generate first-hand accounts of what is occurring in real time with links to rich sources of information such as embedded multimedia. This can be particularly useful for the counterterrorism community when there is a defined area of interest, for example, where officials suspect that some of their citizens are present as foreign fighters.
This short diagram and explanation briefly introduces researchers to the adaptive event-profiling tool STEER that can be used for event detection.
This article describes the methods through which the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s wing in Syria, has come into conflict with pro-Islamic State accounts and users on online platforms.
Backdoor Plots deals with al-Qaeda’s proliferation on the Internet, particularly on the hidden, Darknet. The Darknet sites and networks cannot be accessed by regular means, allowing them to serve as a platform for Internet users seeking anonymity through encryption.
This paper examines approaches for analyzing Twitter messages to distinguish between those covering real-world events and non-event messages. To validate this work the authors applied their process to 2.6 million Twitter messages.
This resource is a short e-book type document by the pilot project “Charting a New Course: Women Preventing Violent Extremism” led by the U.S. Institute of Peace. The project aimed to engage a discussion on key issues related to the role of women and preventing violent extremism (PVE).
This article is based on a research project conducted by the SecDev Group in collaboration with the U.S. National Institute for Justice (NIJ) in San Diego.
McCreadie, Macdonald and Ounis discuss the use of social media platforms, such as Twitter, to track significant events. Emergency response agencies are increasingly looking to social media as a source of real-time information about such events.
This source pertains to the method by which extreme right and hate groups take advantage of user-generated video content websites’ recommender systems to pander to wider, more susceptible audiences.
This article addresses the degree to which geolocation prediction is vital to geospatial applications like localised search and local event detection.
This resource contains the description and data analysis from a research project conducted by Fifth Tribe into ISIS’s use of Twitter in the aftermath of the 2015 Paris Attacks.
This article consists of an interview with one of the leading authors in social media research, Jamie Bartlett. The article provides an insightful and informative look at how the broader Internet is used by various groups.
This resource is an informative, visual and descriptive infographic by Fifth Tribe focused in ISIS’s use of Twitter. The infographic and descriptions in the article were written following the Paris attacks in November 2015.
This report hopes to contribute to developing research in the ever-evolving arena of radicalisation with a particular focus on the role of the Internet.
The authors of this article propose a methodology for automatically identifying events and their associated user-contributed social media documents (such as those posted on Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook) to enable event browsing and search in state-of-the-art search engines.
This 2013 article focuses on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and particularly social media monitoring of Twitter for purposes of national security.
This article discusses how political Islam uses digital visual narratives to create collective identities, enable the radicalisation and recruitment of new members and gather support for political causes.
This background note pertains to how far right extremist groups have coopted methods from the ‘cyber caliphate’ and jihadist Internet use to develop their own support networks.
This report analyzes over one hundred cases from 2010 through 2012 as it describes the various stages that far right movements move through, from peddling hate online to violence and death on the streets.
This paper presents the results from exploratory primary research into the role of the Internet in the radicalization of 15 terrorists and extremists in the UK.
This report was issued two weeks before the largest trial on far-right extremism in German history opened in Munich.
This is a foundational report and a seminal work in the study of social media intelligence and open source research. The paper reviews 245 papers in a semi-systematic literature review of how information and insight can be drawn from open social media sources.
In this paper, the authors argue that despite the widespread use of social media in various domains (e.g.
This article reveals just how vital geographical location is to geospatial applications like local search and event detection. In this paper, the research team investigates and seeks to improve on the task of text-based geolocation prediction of Twitter users.
This article concerns the sophisticated use of online media platforms by individuals and organizations that promote violent Islamism.
This book by Jamie Bartlett, one of the leading authors in social media research, is based on his work in uncovering the way that radical groups operate in the so-called “dark net”.
This study deals with the use of YouTube by five right-wing extremist actors in Sweden to spread socio-political propaganda and revised historical narratives.
This article discusses the use of social media propaganda by Patani militants in Thailand and the sharply opposing outcomes it often produces.
This article deals with ISIS’s establishment of the so-called cyber caliphate and its strategies of advancing extremist discourse over social media websites such as Twitter.
This article deals with the use of social media by terrorist groups as a means to curry support, fundraise, recruit, and spread ideology.
This article is a seminal piece and a foundational resource in the field of social media analytics and open source intelligence by some of the field’s leading authors.
This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the Silk Road, an anonymous, international online marketplace, which operated as a Tor hidden service that used Bitcoin as its exchange currency.
This report reviews the scientific literature relating to observable, individual-level behavioral indicators that might — along with other information — help detect potential violent attacks.
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