Episode 10
Digital Strategies for Counter Narratives
This week, we welcome Dr. Dounia Mahlouly to speak about Digital Strategies for Counter Narratives. Dr. Mahlouly is lecturing at SOAS Centre for Global Media and Communications. She conducted her PhD research at the University of Glasgow, in partnership with the American University in Cairo and worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at King's College London, as part of the European consortium VOX-Pol. Her research interests are in the area of Media Studies and Political Communication. Her work focuses on the interplay between state and non-state actors' communication strategies in post-2011 North Africa. She is about to publish an ethnography of research in 'violent online political extremism', which is designed as a contribution to the current academic debates in critical terrorism studies.
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Follow Dounia on Twitter: @DouniaMahlouly
Learn more about Average Mohamed, the movement countering violent Jihadi extremism on the website: https://averagemohamed.com/about-average-mohamed-mohamed-ahmed/
The article Facebook, Google, and Twitter combat online extremism with targeted videos on The Verge questions whether counter-messaging actually deters radicalization: https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/4/12373978/facebook-google-twitter-extremism-counter-speech-isd-isis
Read the Information Pack on Counterspeech Labs by the Facebook initiative Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI): https://counterspeech.fb.com/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/english-version-handbook-2.pdf
Get more in-depth information about the Online Civil Courage Initiative, on their website: https://counterspeech.fb.com/en/initiatives/online-civil-courage-initiative-occi/
The study for the LIBE Committee Countering Terrorist Narratives, Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs provides an overview of approaches to countering terrorist narratives: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/596829/IPOL_STU(2017)596829_EN.pdf
House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report Radicalisation: the counter-narrative and identifying the tipping point is an enquiry on the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/135/135.pdf
A report by The Commonwealth Counter Narratives for Countering Violent Extremism explores the objectives and impacts of counter-narratives: http://thecommonwealth.org/sites/default/files/inline/ComSec%20CVE%20Counter%20Narratives%20Presentation.pdf
The Counter Narrative Handbook from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, offers information on how counter-narratives can be a positive alternative to extremist propaganda, or deconstruct or delegitimise extremist narratives and challenge extremist ideologies: https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Counter-narrative-Handbook_1.pdf
A second report from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue The Impact of Counter Narratives gives insights from a year-long, cross-platform study of counter-narrative curation, targeting, evaluation and impact: https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Impact-of-Counter-Narratives_ONLINE_1.pdf
Discover more about Against Violent Extremism, the organisation which seeks to counter violent extremism on- and offline, counts Google Ideas as a partner. Visit their website: http://www.againstviolentextremism.org/about
Learn how to create and promote your own counter-narrative campaigns: http://www.counternarratives.org