Text-wars : new technologies, networks and societal conflict.

Abstract

Information and communication technologies are changing traditional notions of conflict by lowering barriers for non-state actors to organize in networks, both nationally and trans-nationally, in order to wage conflict at a societal level. This asymmetric form of conflict is sometimes described as netwar, and proponents of netwar believe it is in the network as organizational form that make netwar difficult for hierarchically organized governments to counter. Given that this form of conflict centered on information, knowledge, and narratives, such an organizational bias cannot account for the underlying mechanisms of how networks are formed and how they utilize information and communication technologies (ICT) to wage asymmetric warfare. Nor does it explain how information is diffused within networks and how that relates to aspects of netwar such as swarming, protests, riots, or communicating propaganda and rumors.