Digital Media and Security
Scoping Workshop/Symposium
University of Warwick
21-22 May 2009
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/security/
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/
www.newmediaecology.net/radicalisation/
mwc.sagepub.com
Objectives:
To establish a research theme ofDigital Media and Security that will enable Warwick and external academics, practitioners, and stakeholders to debate and shape an interdisciplinary and international research agenda that will:
-1. (1) Interrogate the role and function of new media and their associated technologies in shaping the everyday experience of ‘mediatized’ insecurity and security;
-1. (2) Illuminate and shape the paradigmatic shift required in the fields of media, sociology, politics, communication and journalism studies, etc. to provide an adequate framework for security research in the new media ecology;
-1. (3) Initiate and lead the generation of externally-funded grants to enable (1) and (2) above.
This event is co-funded by:
The Warwick International Security Initiative (WISI)
ESRC New Security Challenges Programme: Radicalisation and Violence, A Critical Reassessment
‘Legitimising the Discourses of Radicalisation: Political Violence in the New Media Ecology’
The SAGE journal of Media, War & Conflict
Location: Social Studies Room S0.10
Note refreshments/lunch will be in the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR) Meeting Room, Social Studies
Programme
Thursday 22 May
10.30-11am Tea/Coffee (CSGR Meeting Room)
11.00 Introduction: Andrew Hoskins Sociology, Warwick
11.15 Keynote:
‘My War: Citizen Militarism and Social-Networked Conflict’
William Merrin Media and Communication Studies, Swansea
12.45pm Lunch (CSGR Meeting Room)
1.30 Panel 1: Journalism
Chair: TBA
Maureen Freely English, Warwick
Gillian Youngs Media and Communications, Leicester
Philip Seib Journalism and Communications, USC
2.45 Panel 2: Politics and International Relations
Chair: Ben O’Loughlin, Politics and IR, Royal Holloway
Cerwyn Moore Political Science and International Studies, Birmingham
Matt McDonald PAIS, Warwick
Stuart Croft PAIS, Warwick
4.00 Tea/Coffee (CSGR Meeting Room)
4.30 Keynote:
‘What Power Needs to be Smart’
Steven R. Corman Consortium for Strategic Communication (CSC), Arizona
6.00 End
7.00 Meet in Radcliffe Bar
7.30 Dinner, Radcliffe
Friday 23rd May
9.00am Panel 3:
ESRC NSC ‘Legitimising the Discourses of Radicalisation:
Political Violence in the New Media Ecology’ Project Presentations
Mina Al-Lami Media and Communications, LSE
Akil Awan History/Politics and International Relations, RHUL
Carole Boudeau Sociology, Warwick
Andrew Hoskins Sociology, Warwick
Ben O’Loughlin Politics and International Relations, RHUL
11.00-11.30am Tea/Coffee (CSGR Meeting Room)
11.30am Panel 4: Visual/Methodologies
Chair: Gillian Youngs Leicester, Media and Communication Studies
Maura Conway Law and Government, Dublin City
Trevor McCrisken PAIS, Warwick
James Gow War Studies, King’s College London
Awais Rashid Computing, Lancaster
1.15pm Lunch (CSGR Meeting Room)
2.00pm Panel 5: Government
Chair: Cerwyn Moore Political Science and International Studies, Birmingham
Rhian Jones UK Government
Chris Rees UK Government
3.00pm Closing Remarks
Andrew Hoskins
Keynote Speakers/Abstracts
William Merrin, Swansea University
My War: Citizen Militarism and Social-Networked Conflict
Finally Cyberwarfare seems to have arrived. Since 2000 we have seen continual web-defacements and denial-of-service attacks between Israeli and Palestinian hackers; on-going attacks on US and European government and military computer systems by suspected Chinese hackers, and systematically targeted attacks, apparently launched from Russia, against online computer systems in Estonia (2007), Lithuania (2008), Georgia (2008), and Kyrgystan (2009). Whilst some down-play the seriousness of what are mostly online disruptions, many are warning of the dangers of developing cyberwarfare capacities and the possibilities of a ‘digital pearl harbour’ and the cyber-armageddon of an attack on the critical infrastructure. This paper offers a review of the rise of cyberwar and argues that, in addition to the dangers of state or expert-organised attacks, there is another trend that may be even more worrying. This is the trend towards the ‘crowd-sourcing’ of online attacks and a rise in public participation following the democratization of hacking technologies. Their increasing ease of use and availability and the demand for involvement characteristic of the Web 2.0 world are pushing us towards a future in which the range of hostile actors, their motivations and their destructive power could become a critical challenge for Government authorities and a public life already struggling to cope with state-level and terrorist threats. ‘Citizen militarism’, like citizen journalism before it, represents a fundamental challenge to older ways of organization, control and conduct.
William Merrin is a Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at Swansea University. He is the author of Baudrillard and the Media (2005), co-editor of Jean Baudrillard: Fatal Theory (2008) and on the editorial boards of The International Journal of Baudrillard Studies and Media, War and Conflict. His current research is on his concept of ‘Media Studies 2.0’ and the popular revolution in media activity caused by the digital revolution (http://mediastudies2point0.blogspot.com/).
Steven R. Corman, Arizona State University
What Power Needs to be Smart
As long ago as 2004, Western governments were beginning to realize that their problems with terrorists and other extremist groups could be solved with “kinetic” attacks and other traditional projections of power. What was the Global War on Terrorism was becoming a war of words, contested in battles for hearts and minds.Today leaders openly call for the exercise of “smart power,” a balancing of traditional power with diplomacy and persuasion.In this talk I discuss three things power needs in order to be smart:A 21st century model of communication, a holistic view of ideology, and an understanding of the importance of narrative.
Steven R. Corman (Ph.D. 1988, University of Illinois) is a Professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University where he directs the Consortium for Strategic Communication (CSC).
Since 2001 Corman has served as an invited participant on numerous national and international workshops and symposia on counterterrorism, strategic communication and public diplomacy. In 2005-2006 he served on the Scientist Panel for the Strategic Operations Working Group at U.S. Special Operations Command as an expert on terrorist networks and ideology. He has been an invited speaker at international conferences in Germany, Italy, Singapore, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Corman is also co-editor of the recently-published book Weapons of Mass Persuasion: Strategic Communication to Combat Violent Extremism (2008, Peter Lang).
The CSC is a strategic initiative of the Hugh Downs School. It is a group of scholars dedicated to improving strategic communication and public diplomacy efforts to fight terrorism and extremism. They have just been awarded a $2.5 million grant from the Office of Naval Research, for which Corman is Principal Investigator. The project will study extremist narratives in contested populations of Southeast Asia, Southern Europe/Northern Africa, and the Middle East. The group has also won the 2009 Applied/Public Policy Research Award from the International Communication Association. CSC white papers are widely read in diplomatic and military circles. Their website and blog can be found at http://comops.org.
Participants
Richard Aldrich, Politics and International Studies (PAIS), Warwick
Mina Al-Lami, Media and Communication Studies, LSE
Lawrence Ampofo, Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL)
Akil Awan, History/Politics and International Relations, RHUL
Carole Boudeau, Sociology, Warwick
Maura Conway, Law and Government, Dublin City
Sadie Creese, Digital Laboratory, Warwick
Stuart Croft, PAIS, Warwick
Robert Fine, Sociology, Warwick
Maureen Freely, English, Warwick
James Gow, War Studies, King’s College London
Jackie Hodgson, Law, Warwick
Paul Hopkins, Digital Laboratory, Warwick
Andrew Hoskins, Sociology, Warwick
Rhian Jones, UK Government
Ben O’Loughlin, Politics, Royal Holloway,University of London
Trevor McCrisken, PAIS, Warwick
Matt McDonald, PAIS, Warwick
Yasmin Merali, Warwick Business School
William Merrin, Media and Communications, Swansea
Cerwyn Moore, Politics, Birmingham
Nikki Muckle, Research Support Services, Warwick
Awais Rashid, Computing, Lancaster
Christopher Read, History, Warwick
Chris Rees, UK Government
Philip Seib, Journalism and Communication, USC
Neil Stewart, Psychology, Warwick
Gillian Youngs, Media and Communications, Leicester