From analysing online drug markets to mapping surveillance – Griffith Criminology Institute’s (GCI) ‘Digital Methods for Researching Crime and Harm’ event, held earlier this month, highlighted the evolving role of digital methods in research.
Organisers, GCI’s Dr Andrew Childs and Dr Ausma Bernot, guided participants through discussions emphasising the methodological innovation and collaborative spirit driving contemporary digital crime research.
“Our goal was to build an event that cut across disciplinary boundaries to show that digital methods aren’t owned by any one field, instead, they’re a shared toolkit that lets us see crime and harm in new ways. This showcase was about bringing those different communities together.” Dr Childs said.
“Digital spaces, technologies, and data assets are powerful tools to understand how crime and harm are experienced, detected, and understood,” Dr Bernot said.
“The event provided an engaging space for researchers, students, and practitioners to connect, learn, and reflect on how digital methods are transforming our understanding of crime and harm in the 21st century.”
Scholars from Griffith, Monash, Simon Fraser, UQ, QUT, and the University of Newcastle contributed to a diverse program covering topics from ransomware economics to online illicit platform design.
“We were able to dive into increasingly relevant issues such as thematic analysis of online drug markets, video-based studies of police/citizen encounters and mapping surveillance infrastructures,” Dr Childs added.
“Presenters also focused on digital ethnography, platform walkthroughs, Facebook-based community crime responses, and computational modelling techniques.
“We also heard analysis of cutting-edge analytical methods such as semantic similarity and Polynomial Curved Surface Fitting (PCSF) for visualising complex criminological models.”
Dr Bernot said the event helped connect academics of all levels and practitioners from a range of backgrounds to better understand emerging issues as they work to create positive change.
“We’d like to thank everyone involved in this event, it was great to see how many conversations were started as a result and we look forward to seeing where these lead,” she said.
