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South Africa has seen several waves of immigration from China, with early generations of migrants fleeing extreme poverty at home and newer arrivals seeking business opportunities. Kate Bartlett has the story about Chinese South Africans who have established businesses Johannesburg’s old and new Chinatowns.
The formation of relationships within violent US Islamist extremist groups is highly driven by mutual contacts and the tendency for people to bond with others similar to themselves, according to new research.
Anina Schwarzenbach, formally of Harvard University and the University of Maryland (currently affiliated with the University of Bern) and Michael Jensen of the University of Maryland present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on June 5, 2024.
Prior research on social structures within extremist networks has primarily explored outcomes, such as insurgency or conflict, with scant focus on how relationships first arise. The few studies on relationship formation have suggested that, unlike groups that are mostly profit-driven, terrorist groups prioritize trust-based relationships that increase security over those boosting efficiency.
Building on that prior work, Schwarzenbach and Jensen analyzed how trust-based co-offending relationships—relationships between extremists who commit ideologically motivated crimes either together or separately after receiving each other's influence—form within networks of Islamic extremists radicalized within the United States.
They analyzed data from the publicly accessible Social Networks of American Radicals (SoNAR) database, which includes court-record data on relationships between US Islamist offenders.
The researchers first applied algorithms for detecting community structures to SoNAR data, revealing that the US Islamist co-offending network consists mostly of small, separate, close-knit community clusters, with only a few larger communities.
Next, they applied a technique called exponential random graph modeling to SoNAR data to examine the potential roles of homophily—a tendency to bond with similar people—and transitivity—connection through mutual contacts—in the formation of these co-offender relationships.
They found that relationships were shaped by mutual contacts, ideological affiliation, spatial proximity, and shared socio-cultural traits, suggesting that both homophily and transitivity help to drive co-offending relationships among US Islamist extremists.
The authors note several limitations to this work, including that their findings may not be generalizable outside of the US or to other kinds of extremist offenders.
Still, they say, the findings point to several avenues for disrupting terrorist networks and preventing violence, such as the importance of engagement-prevention programs and policing techniques that are informed by the local—as opposed to online— context in which trust-based co-offending relationships typically form.
The authors add, "The results underscore the significance of local connections and personal interaction in the mobilization of extremist activities. They suggest that combating terrorism requires a multifaceted and localized approach, combining efforts in the digital area with traditional police work at a local level."
More information: Extremists of a feather flock together? Community structures, transitivity, and patterns of homophily in the US Islamist co-offending network, PLoS ONE (2024). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298273
Journal information: PLoS ONE
Provided by Public Library of Science Study of convicted extremists shows open social media platforms play an increasing role in radicalisation
The competition for online attention in today's news environment is fierce. High-quality news from credible sources must compete for attention with misinformation and a rapidly increasing amount of partisan content.
How can a news organization stand out as a reputable and trustworthy outlet while driving readers to its site?
The answer is simple: literally.
According to research from Michigan State University, news readers engage more with simple writing, suggesting journalists should write simply—clearly and without ambiguity—to attract attention online. The study was published in the journal Science Advances.
"Newsrooms want engagement, and citizens, in general, want to be informed. Simple writing provides both. It can help news outlets compete in the competitive online attention economy and makes news more approachable to online readers," said David Markowitz, associate professor of communication in the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences.
Markowitz and his colleagues on the study, Hillary Shulman, associate professor of communication at Ohio State University, and Todd Rogers, professor of public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, evaluated over 30,000 field experiments assessing how headlines from the Washington Post and Upworthy impacted how often people clicked on stories. To do this, they developed a simplicity index, which evaluated headlines based on the following criteria:
Data from these experiments found that people engage with and click on linguistically simple headlines more than linguistically complex headlines.
"Simplicity is often preferred linguistically because it feels better than complexity to most people," said Markowitz. "It can impact what people read, what people click on, and how they think about companies and institutions competing for our attention."
"The best way to increase demand for good, credible journalism is to realize that simpler is better," Shulman said.
The researchers also found that complex headlines had less stickiness than simple headlines: readers were less likely to recognize or remember them later, as demonstrated in online experiments.
"Small efforts aimed at increasing the simplicity or fluency of language can increase the attention of casual readers—and also make them more informed and educated about the news of the day," said Markowitz.
And getting the simplicity right can make a significant difference. For example, during the time of the study, the Washington Post had about 70 million unique visitors to its website—that is, readers who did not visit the site twice. If only 0.10% more readers click on a story because it has a simpler headline (2.1% versus 2%) and end up reading three articles on the Washington Post website, that would still equal a difference of more than 200,000 readers.
"This not only makes the news accessible to more people, but it can also help newsrooms with their bottom line. More visitors means ad buyers are more attracted to a publication, which helps a news organization's bottom line," said Markowitz.
More information: Hillary Shulman, Reading Dies in Complexity: Online News Consumers Prefer Simple Writing, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn2555. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn2555
Journal information: Science Advances
Provided by Michigan State University New research shows how attention lapses are exploited by fake news sites
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31 in Washington, D.C. Meta has been accused of censoring pro-Palestinian content in a new lawsuit.... More ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES
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This frame grab from an undated Global Television broadcast shows pig farmer Robert William Pickton inside a barn on his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, Canada. Photo: AFP / Global Television
Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, who took female victims to his pig farm during a crime spree near Vancouver in the late 1990s and early 2000s, has died after being assaulted in prison, authorities said Friday. He was 74.
The Correctional Service of Canada said in a statement that Pickton, an inmate of Port-Cartier Institution in the province of Quebec, died in hospital following injuries in the 19 May assault involving another inmate. He was one of Canada's most notorious serial killers and his case made international headlines.
A 51-year-old inmate was in custody for the assault on Pickton, police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said earlier this month.
Robert "Willie" Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2007, with the maximum parole ineligibility period of 25 years, after being charged with the murders of 26 women.
Police began searching the Pickton farm in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam more than 22 years ago in what would be a years-long investigation into the disappearances of dozens of women from Vancouver's seediest streets, sex workers and users of drugs abandoned on the margins of society.
The remains or DNA of 33 women were found on the farm. Pickton once bragged to an undercover police officer that he killed a total of 49 women.
During his trial, prosecution witness Andrew Bellwood said Pickton told him how he strangled his victims and fed their remains to his pigs. Health officials once issued a tainted meat advisory to neighbours who might have bought pork from Pickton's farm, concerned the meat might have contained human remains.
Cynthia Cardinal, whose sister Georgina Papin was murdered by Pickton, said Pickton's death means she can finally move on from her sister's murder.
"This is gonna bring healing for, I won't say all families, I'll just say most of the families," she said. "I'm like - wow, finally. I can actually move on and heal and I can put this behind me."
Vancouver police were criticised for not taking the cases seriously because many of the missing were sex workers or users of drugs.
Canada's correctional service said it was conducting an investigation into the attack on Pickton.
"The investigation will examine all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the assault, including whether policies and protocols were followed," the service said in the statement. "We are mindful that this offender's case has had a devastating impact on communities in British Columbia and across the country, including Indigenous peoples, victims and their families. Our thoughts are with them."
Pickton's confirmed victims were six: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Papin and Marnie Frey.
"Earlier today, I was made aware of the death of an inmate at Port-Cartier Institution," Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement. "At this time, my thoughts are with the families of the victims of this individual's heinous crimes."
At the time of Pickton's sentencing, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice James Williams said it was a "rare case that properly warrants the maximum period of parole ineligibility available to the court."
- AP
