Search Engine Vision “ISIS” explores the semiotic shift of language as transient definitions that form organically online. The piece opens with examples of the first 1,000 video results from a YouTube search of “ISIS goddess.” Because the search contains the word “ISIS,” the search engine could understand the keyword as a reference to the terrorist…
The White House hosted a Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, during which Obama discussed concrete steps world powers “can take to develop community-oriented approaches to counter hateful extremist ideologies that radicalize, recruit or incite to violence” (Office of the Press Secretary 2015); however, the U.S. government seems to be overstating…
In my previous article, Twitter Terrorism: A Sophisticated Weapon in the War on Terror, I examined how social media has been exploited by extremist groups since the late 1990’s as a tool to recruit and radicalize seemingly unassociated youth. Yet, the governmental response in both the U.K. and the U.S….
Mohammad Hamzah Khan grew up in a suburban Chicago home watching Dragon Tales and Batman, earning a Presidential Physical Fitness Award, and playing basketball in his backyard. He represented Argentina in the National Model United Nations and studied engineering and computer science at Benedictine University, a Roman Catholic School. Yet,…