{"title":"信息偏差在塑造极端主义内容中的作用:以四位极端分子为例","authors":"Waseem Afzal","doi":"10.47989/381","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Introduction. Extremism—distinct from activism—poses a serious threat to the healthy functioning of a society. In the contemporary world, the ability of extremists to spread their narratives using digital information environments has increased tremendously. Despite a substantial body of research on extremism, our understanding of the role of information and its properties in shaping extremist content is sketchy. Method. To fill this gap, the current research has used ‘content analysis’ and ‘affective lexicon’ to identify and categorise terms from the publicly available online content of four extremists – two groups and two individuals. The property of information skewness provided the deciphering lens through which the categorised content was assessed. Analysis. Contextual categories of information relevant to all the extremists were developed to analyse the content meaningfully. Six categories of religion, ideology, politics-history, cognition, affection, and conation provided the framework used to analyse and deductively categorise the data using content analysis. The affective lexicon developed by Ortony et al. (1987) was used to identify words belonging to the categories of cognition, affection (emotions and feelings), and conation (behaviour/actions). Results. The findings reveal that the property of information skewness plays a significant role in shaping extremist content and two aspects of this property (a) intensity and (b) positivity or negativity can be used to (1) classify extremists into meaningful categories and (2) identify generalisable information strategies of extremists. Conclusions. It is hoped that the findings of this research will inform future enquiries into the role of information and its properties in shaping extremist content and help security agencies to effectively engage in information warfare with extremists.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"The role of information skewness in shaping extremist content: A look at four extremists\",\"authors\":\"Waseem Afzal\",\"doi\":\"10.47989/381\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Introduction. Extremism—distinct from activism—poses a serious threat to the healthy functioning of a society. In the contemporary world, the ability of extremists to spread their narratives using digital information environments has increased tremendously. Despite a substantial body of research on extremism, our understanding of the role of information and its properties in shaping extremist content is sketchy. Method. To fill this gap, the current research has used ‘content analysis’ and ‘affective lexicon’ to identify and categorise terms from the publicly available online content of four extremists – two groups and two individuals. The property of information skewness provided the deciphering lens through which the categorised content was assessed. Analysis. Contextual categories of information relevant to all the extremists were developed to analyse the content meaningfully. Six categories of religion, ideology, politics-history, cognition, affection, and conation provided the framework used to analyse and deductively categorise the data using content analysis. The affective lexicon developed by Ortony et al. (1987) was used to identify words belonging to the categories of cognition, affection (emotions and feelings), and conation (behaviour/actions). Results. The findings reveal that the property of information skewness plays a significant role in shaping extremist content and two aspects of this property (a) intensity and (b) positivity or negativity can be used to (1) classify extremists into meaningful categories and (2) identify generalisable information strategies of extremists. Conclusions. It is hoped that the findings of this research will inform future enquiries into the role of information and its properties in shaping extremist content and help security agencies to effectively engage in information warfare with extremists.\",\"PeriodicalId\":47431,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-06-15\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"91\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.47989/381\",\"RegionNum\":4,\"RegionCategory\":\"管理学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q3\",\"JCRName\":\"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.47989/381","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
摘要
介绍。极端主义——不同于激进主义——对社会的健康运转构成严重威胁。在当代世界,极端分子利用数字信息环境传播其言论的能力大大增强。尽管有大量关于极端主义的研究,但我们对信息及其属性在塑造极端主义内容中的作用的理解还是粗略的。方法。为了填补这一空白,目前的研究使用了“内容分析”和“情感词汇”来从四个极端分子——两个团体和两个个人——的公开在线内容中识别和分类术语。信息偏度的属性提供了通过分类内容进行评估的解密镜头。分析。制定了与所有极端分子有关的信息上下文类别,以便对内容进行有意义的分析。宗教、意识形态、政治历史、认知、情感和意识六大类别提供了使用内容分析对数据进行分析和演绎分类的框架。Ortony et al.(1987)开发的情感词汇被用来识别属于认知、情感(情绪和感觉)和意识(行为/行动)类别的词语。结果。研究结果表明,信息偏倚属性在极端主义内容的形成中起着重要作用,该属性的两个方面(a)强度和(b)积极性或消极性可用于(1)将极端主义分子划分为有意义的类别和(2)确定极端主义分子的可推广信息策略。结论。希望这项研究的结果将为未来对信息在塑造极端主义内容中的作用及其属性的调查提供信息,并帮助安全机构有效地与极端分子进行信息战。
The role of information skewness in shaping extremist content: A look at four extremists
Introduction. Extremism—distinct from activism—poses a serious threat to the healthy functioning of a society. In the contemporary world, the ability of extremists to spread their narratives using digital information environments has increased tremendously. Despite a substantial body of research on extremism, our understanding of the role of information and its properties in shaping extremist content is sketchy. Method. To fill this gap, the current research has used ‘content analysis’ and ‘affective lexicon’ to identify and categorise terms from the publicly available online content of four extremists – two groups and two individuals. The property of information skewness provided the deciphering lens through which the categorised content was assessed. Analysis. Contextual categories of information relevant to all the extremists were developed to analyse the content meaningfully. Six categories of religion, ideology, politics-history, cognition, affection, and conation provided the framework used to analyse and deductively categorise the data using content analysis. The affective lexicon developed by Ortony et al. (1987) was used to identify words belonging to the categories of cognition, affection (emotions and feelings), and conation (behaviour/actions). Results. The findings reveal that the property of information skewness plays a significant role in shaping extremist content and two aspects of this property (a) intensity and (b) positivity or negativity can be used to (1) classify extremists into meaningful categories and (2) identify generalisable information strategies of extremists. Conclusions. It is hoped that the findings of this research will inform future enquiries into the role of information and its properties in shaping extremist content and help security agencies to effectively engage in information warfare with extremists.
期刊介绍:
Information Research, is an open access, international, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, dedicated to making accessible the results of research across a wide range of information-related disciplines. It is published by the University of Borås, Sweden, with the financial support of an NOP-HS Scientific Journal Grant. It is edited by Professor T.D. Wilson, and is hosted, and given technical support, by Lund University Libraries, Sweden.