Applying Anthropology to Online Communities
Introduction This post is the last one in this on applying anthropology series. When it comes to tacking online issues and problems there is a need to understand the types of people who carry out these acts. This requires intelligence of the threats to be collected and because it is about gathering this information from people anthropology based methods can aid in this endeavour. By being able to understand online communities it enables companies, NGOs and law enforcement to tackle crime (cyber/online), hate-groups and extremists/ terrorists. Platforms The Internet has facilitated the online interactions of dispersed groups of people with shared interests. These online groups exhibit a wide range of characteristics and serve a variety of purposes, from small groups engaged in tightly focused discussions of specific topics, to complex created worlds with hundreds of simultaneous participants, to millions of users linked by an interest in mar...