Crowdsourcing and gamification techniques in Inspire (AQAP online magazine)

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has integrated crowdsourcing and gamification into its multi-issue online magazine called Inspire. This allows them to make recruiting and training believers and like-minded people to fight unbelievers - a virtual game that anyone can play worldwide. This paper provides customized crowdsourcing and gamification frameworks for Inspire. The framework can be used in security informatics applications to identify and classify crowdsourcing techniques, gaming personalities such as participant and killer, and gamification activities. The framework can also be used in red team exercises and predictive systems to map scenarios involving violent actors such as Islamic extremists or active shooters.