Crime prevention, swarm intelligence and stigmergy: Understanding the mechanisms of social media-facilitated community crime prevention

Social media are now utilized extensively by Neighbourhood Watch-style initiatives; however, the impact social media have on the practices and mechanisms of community crime prevention remains under-theorized. Drawing on our observations of an Australian-based community crime prevention group over tw...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Wood, Mark A. (Autor)
Otros Autores: Thompson, Chrissy
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2021
En: The British journal of criminology
Año: 2021, Volumen: 61, Número: 2, Páginas: 414-433
Acceso en línea: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Palabras clave:
Community crime prevention
Digital criminology
Neighbourhood Watch
Social Media
stigmergy
swarm intelligence
Descripción
Sumario:Social media are now utilized extensively by Neighbourhood Watch-style initiatives; however, the impact social media have on the practices and mechanisms of community crime prevention remains under-theorized. Drawing on our observations of an Australian-based community crime prevention group over two-and-a-half years, this article develops a grounded theory of the mechanisms underpinning the group’s social media-facilitated practices of responding to local crime. We find that social media-facilitated Neighbourhood Watch is shaped by two phenomena that have yet to receive sustained attention in crime prevention research. These are swarm intelligence—a form of self-organization wherein collectives process information to solve problems that members cannot solve individually—and stigmergy: work that stimulates further work. In explaining how swarm intelligence and stigmergy interact with several of the long-acknowledged mechanisms and issues associated with Neighbourhood Watch, we emphasize the importance of examining how the media context of community crime prevention groups shapes their practices, behaviour and (in)efficacy.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azaa065