Social Media narratives: addressing extremism in middle age

网上的阴谋论、错误信息和极端主义日益引起各国政府的关注。极端政治叙事在欧洲各地兴起，这些叙事影响着主流政治话语和政策。这直接影响了人们对民主制度的看法，对科学的信任，并导致人们呼吁采取直接行动（1月6日在美国入侵）来推翻或破坏民主选举产生的政府。中年人（45-65岁）可能既容易受到极端主义言论的影响，也可能是有影响力的决策者。这一群体尚未得到充分研究，但他们被卷入极端主义内容的影响可能会对政治话语、民主进程和制度产生重大影响。SMIDGE将通过社会网络分析、极端主义话语的文本和内容分析来分析欧洲各地各种形式的极端主义话语和叙事，并将通过调查、焦点小组和6个国家（英国、意大利、比利时、丹麦、科索沃、塞浦路斯）的访谈来考虑国家和人口特征。通过对当前技术状况的深入研究，SMIDGE将制作反叙事、旨在促进反思性的教育和培训资源，以及多层次的政策建议和循证工具，并为记者和安全专业人员提供培训。在焦点小组的共同创造练习中，将通过与利益攸关方的合作来创建反内容。SMIDGE将负责任的研究与创新（RRI）理论作为其核心概念方法，以确保项目符合最高的道德和质量标准。SMIDGE的产出将提供基于证据的内容、工具和资源，这些内容、工具和资源将从多个角度直接帮助打击极端主义叙事，从而更好地了解中年人的特点和特征，以及他们在网络极端主义面前的脆弱性。

Conspiracy theories, misinformation and extremism online is a growing concern to governments. Extreme political narratives have been rising across Europe and these narratives influence mainstream political discourses and policies. This is having a direct impact on perceptions of democratic institutions, trust in science, and leads to calls for direct action (Jan 6th incursion in USA) to overthrow or disrupt democratically elected governments. Those in middle age (45-65) may be both susceptible to extremist narratives and also influential as decision-makers. This group is under-researched, but the impact of them being drawn into extremist content may have significant consequences on political discourse, democratic processes and institutions. SMIDGE will analyse the various forms of extremist discourses and narratives across Europe through social network analysis, textual and content analysis of extremist discourse, and will consider national and demographic specifics through survey, focus groups and interviews in 6 countries (UK, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Kosovo, Cyprus). From this in-depth examination of the current state of the art, SMIDGE will produce counter-narratives, education and training resources aimed at promoting reflexivity, alongside multi-level policy recommendations and evidence-based tools and training for journalists and security professionals. The counter-content will be created through collaboration with stakeholders during co-creation exercises in the focus groups. SMIDGE takes the theory of responsible research and innovation (RRI) as its core conceptual approach to ensure that the project adheres to the highest ethical and quality standards. The outputs from SMIDGE will provide evidence based content, tools and resources that will directly help to counter extremist narratives from multiple perspectives, thereby providing greater understanding of the specificities and characteristics of those in middle-age and their vulnerability to extremism online.