The 60 Days of PVE Campaign: Lessons on Organizing an Online, Peer-to-Peer, Counter-radicalization Program

Authors

  • Alex Wilner AlexWilner@cunet.carleton.ca, Postal Address: NPSIA, Carleton University, 5106 Richcraft Hall, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1S 5B6
  • Brandon Rigato Contributing co-authors of this article include Kirsten Aleksejev, Éliane Goulet-Beaudry, Nathan Callaghan, Katie Fry, Nora Grant-Young, Kendra Eyben, Katie North, Cullen Schreiter, and Bridget Steele. Sections of this article are derived from the P2P group’s final report, submitted to Professor Alex Wilner as part of NPSIA’s Capstone Course in National Security, April 2017.

Keywords:

Counter-Narrative, Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE), Peer-to-Peer (P2P) campaign, ISIS, Social Media, Canada

Abstract

Combatting violent extremism can involve organizing Peer-to-Peer (P2P) preventing violent extremism (PVE) programs and social media campaigns. While hundreds of PVE campaigns have been launched around the world in recent months and years, very few of these campaigns have actually been reviewed, analyzed, or assessed in any systematic way. Metrics of success and failure have yet to be fully developed, and very little is publically known as to what might differentiate a great and successful P2P campaign from a mediocre one. This article will provide first-hand insight on orchestrating a publically funded, university-based, online, peer-to-peer PVE campaign – 60 Days of PVE – based on the experience of a group of Canadian graduate students. The article provides an account of the group’s approach to PVE. It highlights the entirety of the group’s campaign, from theory and conceptualization to branding, media strategy, and evaluation, and describes the campaign’s core objectives and implementation. The article also analyzes the campaign’s digital footprint and reach using data gleamed from social media. Finally, the article discusses the challenges and difficulties the group faced in running their campaign, lessons that are pertinent for others contemplating a similar endeavour.

Author Biographies

Alex Wilner, AlexWilner@cunet.carleton.ca, Postal Address: NPSIA, Carleton University, 5106 Richcraft Hall, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1S 5B6

Assistant Professor, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa

Brandon Rigato, Contributing co-authors of this article include Kirsten Aleksejev, Éliane Goulet-Beaudry, Nathan Callaghan, Katie Fry, Nora Grant-Young, Kendra Eyben, Katie North, Cullen Schreiter, and Bridget Steele. Sections of this article are derived from the P2P group’s final report, submitted to Professor Alex Wilner as part of NPSIA’s Capstone Course in National Security, April 2017.

PhD Candidate, School of Journalism and Communications, Carleton University, Ottawa

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Published

2017-09-25

Issue

No. 12 (2017): FALL ISSUE 2017

Section

Articles

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