Cori E. Dauber

“ The latest estimates suggest that Internet use in the Middle East and North Africa is growing at a rate higher than any other place in the world. Between the years 2000-05, Internet access rates grew at a measure of around 411.5% (compounded growth.) Connectivity may be even higher than is estimated by conventional measures because of the large number of people in the region who use Internet cafes or community access points. ”

“ As that suggests, part of the reason terrorists can take advantage of this technology as easily as American “citizen journalists” can is that this is hardly a phenomenon restricted to the developed world or to citizens of the developed world. ”

“ Without a doubt, this material is important to their ability to reach their own constituencies and for their ability to recruit from those who have been labeled “swing voters,” those in the Islamic world who have not decided whether or not they are going to support the global Islamist insurgency. ”

“ But these are sophisticated propagandists who are not only constructing sophisticated texts meant to simultaneously reach multiple audiences, they are also constructing multiple texts targeted to reach a variety of different categories of audience. They understand that the trick is that, in doing so, texts targeted to different audiences need to be modified slightly for each different audience. ”