About This Project

Purpose

This website serves as an interactive visual exploration of various aspects of Inspire, an online English-language magazine produced by al-Qaeda’s affiliate al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The specific questions that I address in this visualization are:

• What categories and topics do the magazine cover and how does the coverage vary across issues?
• Who are the main contributors to the magazine?
• How much of the magazine’s content is original? In other words, what proportion of articles are written specifically for Inspire and what proportion are drawn from other sources?

The answers to these questions hold practical implications for counter-terrorism efforts, but the visualization also provides an accessible and relatively non-alarmist peek into terrorist messaging for all members of the public.

Design concept

Throughout the visualization, I employ a theme of “illuminating” - that is, shedding light on the issue at hand, and also rejecting terror itself. Thus, instead of accomodating the obscurity and darkness of the subject matter, I provide a contrast with a bright white background and luminescent hues.

Project information and contact

Link to GitHub repo