Katharine Boyd

Projects

Commissioned year

How Does Isis’ Online Propaganda Demonstrate Mechanisms of Radicalisation?

This project seeks to identify how ISIS’ online propaganda demonstrates the dynamics of radicalisation by conducting a large-scale, computer-assisted analysis of ISIS’ online content.

Project

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2016 – 2017

Articles

Article

Stephane Baele, Katharine Boyd, Travis Coan

Extremist Prose as Networks

Stephane Baele, Katharine Boyd, and Travis Coan look at using co-occurrence networks to monitor extremist communications

Article

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3 min read

Academic Publications

Lethal Images: Analyzing Extremist Visual Propaganda from ISIS and Beyond

Violent extremist groups regularly use pictures in their propaganda. This practice, however, remains insufficiently understood. Conceptualizing visual images as amplifiers of narratives and emotions, the present article offers an original theoretical framework and measurement method for examining the synchronic and diachronic study of the manipulative use of images by violent extremist groups. We illustrate this framework and method with a systematic analysis of the 2,058 pictures contained in the Islamic State's propaganda magazines targeting Western audiences, exposing the “visual style” of the group, and highlighting the trends and shifts in the evolution of this style following developments on the ground.

(From the journal abstract)

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[SB1] Baele, S. J., Boyd, K. A., & Coan, T. G. (2020). Lethal Images: Analyzing Extremist Visual Propaganda from ISIS and Beyond. Journal of Global Security Studies, 5(4), 634–657.

 

Authors: Stephane Baele, Katharine Boyd, Travis Coan

https://doi.org/10.1093/jogss/ogz058