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I will be giving a paper, provisionally entitled ‘Violence and Virtuality: virtual ‘terror’ and the counter-strategic challenge’, at the British International Studies Association conference at the University of Exeter in December. Schedule details have yet to be finalised but I hear it’s usually a pretty interesting, if tough, affair. This is the abstract of my contribution to the ‘Virtual Politics’ panel:

Recent media reports have speculated on terrorists’ use of synthetic worlds such as Second Life for training and other purposes. The reality is somewhat different. Although terrorist-style tactics have been employed within synthetic worlds for political, economic and social ends there is currently little evidence to suggest that terrorist organisations or individuals, as normally understood, use synthetic worlds for nefarious ends, or demonstrate the will and opportunities to do so. However, in the global environment of fast-evolving computer-mediated communication (CMC), which terrorists and insurgents have been quick to exploit, this situation is likely to change. This paper explores the possibilities afforded to terrorists and insurgents, and potential options available to planners of counterstrategies. It will also address the issue of ‘virtuality’ and its unresolved relationship with the ‘real’. This has important implications for information strategies in global counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, which must be contingent on an understanding of ‘cyberspace’ as ‘physical’ rather than ‘virtual’ space.