@article{ref1,
title="Crime prevention, swarm intelligence and stigmergy: understanding the mechanisms of social media-facilitated community crime prevention",
journal="British journal of criminology",
year="2021",
author="Wood, Mark A. and Thompson, Chrissy",
volume="61",
number="2",
pages="414-433",
abstract="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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0007-0955",
doi="10.1093/bjc/azaa065",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaa065"
}