Investigating the role of responsible algorithms and the Web in radicalisation and counter-radicalisation activities in contemporary Western society
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Sch of Humanities
Abstract
Key Objectives
The aim of the research is to give a considered and comprehensive appreciation of the risks and benefits to the employment of web based, data-driven, networks, and responsible algorithms in artificial intelligence (AI), for counter-radicalisation purposes. It will be delivered with a specific focus on use of AI in the development of counter-radicalisation tools in the Age of the Web. This project will also delve into subsidiary concerns - such as the ethics and morality of using algorithms in the development and deployment of autonomous, pre-emptive and preventative, counter-radicalisation tools - that any investigation into the future of radicalisation and the Web will inevitably raise. Ultimately, this project will provide an understanding of the role of the Web in radicalisation and counter-radicalisation activities for the past, present, and the future for practitioners, stakeholders, and policy makers alike.
Methodology
1. Historical-hermeneutic
This project will use a historical-hermeneutic approach to understand how the Web has shaped society - and how society has shaped the Web - through the prism of counter-radicalisation. It will investigate the ways and means that successive evolutions of the Web have been exploited by radicals and extremists to further their own narrative, to the point where the Web should now be considered key terrain - a military term given to a space that confers a marked advantage to the organisation that can seize and/or hold it - by radicals, extremists, and counter-radicalisation extremists alike. Finally, using the key threads identified by this process, it will generate a theory to help practitioners and stakeholders understand how the next evolution of the Web will be utilised for radicalisation and counter-radicalisation purposes alike.
2. Social Science Theory
Primarily, this strand will investigate why radicals and extremists behave the way that they to identify meaningful interventions that can restrict or reduce instances of extremism. However, it will also posit the state as the primary enabler and gatekeeper to such interventions, and as the key stakeholder; second only to the people which the state is charged with protecting. Therefore, while it will draw on a variety of theories from the behavioural sciences, it will be heavily underpinned by the theories surrounding ethics and morality from within the political sciences specifically.
3. Web Science Practice
The Web is not just about people. Indeed, artefacts like the semantic Web exploit machine-readable data online to generate new insights and understanding about the world in which we live. This strand will therefore identify the ways and means by which the Web has been weaponised, unwittingly or otherwise, by audiences, actors, adversaries, and enemies. Furthermore, it will explore the technological affordances of the Web for generating or repurposing Web based technologies to mitigate against, or counteract, the weaponization of the Web. Specifically, it will seek to identify where such developments can utilise developments in AI and responsible algorithm to the point at which they no longer require meaningful human interaction and consider whether such technologies should be deployed in anger. Finally, it will grapple with the questions of ethics, morality, legality, and responsibility, that such activities would generate.
Value of the research
The primary outputs of this research will be an enhanced understanding of the role of the Web in contemporary society, and ways that such an understanding can be exploited by policy makers and counter-radicalisation practitioners, to make society safer from negative attributes of radicalisation, while simultaneously enhancing the positive aspects of it.
The aim of the research is to give a considered and comprehensive appreciation of the risks and benefits to the employment of web based, data-driven, networks, and responsible algorithms in artificial intelligence (AI), for counter-radicalisation purposes. It will be delivered with a specific focus on use of AI in the development of counter-radicalisation tools in the Age of the Web. This project will also delve into subsidiary concerns - such as the ethics and morality of using algorithms in the development and deployment of autonomous, pre-emptive and preventative, counter-radicalisation tools - that any investigation into the future of radicalisation and the Web will inevitably raise. Ultimately, this project will provide an understanding of the role of the Web in radicalisation and counter-radicalisation activities for the past, present, and the future for practitioners, stakeholders, and policy makers alike.
Methodology
1. Historical-hermeneutic
This project will use a historical-hermeneutic approach to understand how the Web has shaped society - and how society has shaped the Web - through the prism of counter-radicalisation. It will investigate the ways and means that successive evolutions of the Web have been exploited by radicals and extremists to further their own narrative, to the point where the Web should now be considered key terrain - a military term given to a space that confers a marked advantage to the organisation that can seize and/or hold it - by radicals, extremists, and counter-radicalisation extremists alike. Finally, using the key threads identified by this process, it will generate a theory to help practitioners and stakeholders understand how the next evolution of the Web will be utilised for radicalisation and counter-radicalisation purposes alike.
2. Social Science Theory
Primarily, this strand will investigate why radicals and extremists behave the way that they to identify meaningful interventions that can restrict or reduce instances of extremism. However, it will also posit the state as the primary enabler and gatekeeper to such interventions, and as the key stakeholder; second only to the people which the state is charged with protecting. Therefore, while it will draw on a variety of theories from the behavioural sciences, it will be heavily underpinned by the theories surrounding ethics and morality from within the political sciences specifically.
3. Web Science Practice
The Web is not just about people. Indeed, artefacts like the semantic Web exploit machine-readable data online to generate new insights and understanding about the world in which we live. This strand will therefore identify the ways and means by which the Web has been weaponised, unwittingly or otherwise, by audiences, actors, adversaries, and enemies. Furthermore, it will explore the technological affordances of the Web for generating or repurposing Web based technologies to mitigate against, or counteract, the weaponization of the Web. Specifically, it will seek to identify where such developments can utilise developments in AI and responsible algorithm to the point at which they no longer require meaningful human interaction and consider whether such technologies should be deployed in anger. Finally, it will grapple with the questions of ethics, morality, legality, and responsibility, that such activities would generate.
Value of the research
The primary outputs of this research will be an enhanced understanding of the role of the Web in contemporary society, and ways that such an understanding can be exploited by policy makers and counter-radicalisation practitioners, to make society safer from negative attributes of radicalisation, while simultaneously enhancing the positive aspects of it.
Planned Impact
The proposed CDT in Web Science Innovation will have significant economic and societal impact, as it develops a substantial cohort of students equipped to navigate the disruptive transition to a digital economy. The training methods utilised by the CDT are based on a model of intensive industry partnership, thereby situating students directly in contemporary industry contexts and engaging them in a range of communications with industrial partners. This training context will develop important leadership skills, and will contribute to the formation of a better-skilled and more entrepreneurial workforce in the Digital Economy. Graduates will be able to understand the challenges and opportunities of the web from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, and therefore will have impact for a range of local, national and international businesses, within diverse sectors. As the proposed CDT combines both technical and societal approaches to Web Science, they will be able to identify and deploy effective digital solutions that have social traction. This will have considerable social impact creating a workforce capable of a holistic and therefore more effective approach to innovating in the digital economy.
Engagement with government will also allow for impact on a policy level. As interdisciplinary approaches to topical issues are developed through the CDT training, a cohort of graduates who can analyse and synthesise across perspectives will develop, providing cogent expert advice to policy makers. This societal impact will be significant, as key contemporary topics, such as online privacy or internet child pornography, are becoming increasingly complex and significant.
The CDT will also cultivate graduates who are adept at public engagement and outreach, having developed skills by engaging in a range of public activities throughout the course of their training. The ability to communicate broadly and clearly with a range of audiences, and to engage as leaders in a broad economic field, will be at the heart of the training.
The research undertaken by the postgraduate cohort, directed towards Web Science Innovation, and conducted in close co-operation with a network of industry partners, will generate significant new intellectual property within the UK economy. A particular innovation focus for the CDT will be Open Data, which amplifies the opportunities for value creation downstream from the original data creators and publishers. Our students will have the skills and opportunities to develop a range of novel and socially authentic Web services, through partnerships brokered by the Open Data Institute with government organisations, large firms, SMEs and startups.
Engagement with government will also allow for impact on a policy level. As interdisciplinary approaches to topical issues are developed through the CDT training, a cohort of graduates who can analyse and synthesise across perspectives will develop, providing cogent expert advice to policy makers. This societal impact will be significant, as key contemporary topics, such as online privacy or internet child pornography, are becoming increasingly complex and significant.
The CDT will also cultivate graduates who are adept at public engagement and outreach, having developed skills by engaging in a range of public activities throughout the course of their training. The ability to communicate broadly and clearly with a range of audiences, and to engage as leaders in a broad economic field, will be at the heart of the training.
The research undertaken by the postgraduate cohort, directed towards Web Science Innovation, and conducted in close co-operation with a network of industry partners, will generate significant new intellectual property within the UK economy. A particular innovation focus for the CDT will be Open Data, which amplifies the opportunities for value creation downstream from the original data creators and publishers. Our students will have the skills and opportunities to develop a range of novel and socially authentic Web services, through partnerships brokered by the Open Data Institute with government organisations, large firms, SMEs and startups.
