Link to join the webinar: https://uio.zoom.us/j/65244075208
This talk explores the ethics of approaching "the digital" as a field site in online extremist research including the implications both for researchers and research subjects. Too often, the internet is treated as a data source, particularly when high-volume data is collected, cleaned, and parsed technologically. The internet (and social media) are social spaces, filled with people. It is, however, a highly complex field site as its population is global, demographically diverse, and cultural and situational norms are specific to the online milieu. Navigating these questions is necessary for all internet research, but more difficult in the context of our field given the further complexities of studying so-called difficult and dangerous topics and actors. We cannot simply move offline ethical solutions and map them directly over to the online context. Currently, individual scholars or research groups are negotiating these issues on a per project basis. We are, however, uniquely positioned to lead the broader internet research field in developing standards of ethical practice to suit a variety of complexities as well as in promoting deep training at all levels of research across the area of study.
Dr. Ashley A. Mattheis is a Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture at the University of Manchester. Her research interests include digital extremist cultures’ (Manosphere, Far Right, #Trad, and QAnon) propaganda materials, gendered communicative approaches, and economies of digital media circulation. Her expertise lies at the intersection of critical media studies, visual rhetorical criticism, and digital cultural analyses through the lens of feminist STS and Black feminist theories. In the past, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University working on the Tech Against Terrorism Europe Project (2023-2024) and at the Cyber Threats Research Centre (CYTREC) in the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law at Swansea University (2022-2023). Her publications include articles in such journals as Policy and Internet, the Journal for Deradicalization, and the CTC Sentinel. Her policy and community facing work can be found via the Resolve Network, RAN Europe, Peace Tech Labs, and Tech Soup’s Game Changer program. She has also contributed to public scholarship on the VOX-Pol Blog and GNET Insights as well as recorded podcast episodes for Right Rising, Yeah Nah Pasaran!, and Battle Rhythm. She is an Associate Editor at the journal Perspectives on Terrorism and a Leadership Team member of the VOX-Pol Research Network.
The webinar series on Researching the Far Right: Methods and Ethics is co-organized by C-REX and the Canadian Network for Research on Security, Extremism and Society (CANSES). The series aims to facilitate a much needed discussion about the methodological, ethical, political, practical and professional challenges that arise when researching the far right.
Sign up to receive invitations for this webinar series.