TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Crime prevention, swarm intelligence and stigmergy: understanding the mechanisms of social media-facilitated community crime prevention
JO  - British journal of criminology
A1  - Wood, Mark A.
A1  - Thompson, Chrissy
SP  - 414
EP  - 433
VL  - 61
IS  - 2
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 0007-0955
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaa065
ID  - ref1
ER  -