 |
|
Web-Based Conflict Research Tutorials
Sources of Information
Traditionally, searching for detailed information
about recent developments at your specific conflict site would require
interested persons to travel, potentially thousands of miles, and
meet face to face with the competing parties and interested individuals to
answer all of your questions. While such face-to-face communication is still
invaluable (although potentially very expensive) it is now possible to get a "jump start" on
finding answers by searching the Internet or by looking through the
newspaper collection at the local library.
While such research will not be as "first
hand" as that which can be obtained by going to the site in-person,
searching the Internet or library resources provide a relatively easy and
efficient way to access a great deal of valuable information,
which enables those interested in getting involved to find out more about the
conflict they are about to enter. It also enables third parties to learn
enough background information about the conflict that they will be able to ask
more intelligent questions both before they depart and once they get there.
Your next
step is to decide what information resources you want to search. Table 2 offers a useful guide to available resources along with
information about searching options and the advantages and disadvantages of each
resource.
| Resource |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
Searching |
| In-print books |
-
Easily available within a
few days or weeks
-
Provides more in-depth
information
-
Generally higher-quality
(since more effort goes into writing books than newsletters, monographs,
or news stories)
|
-
Moderately expensive
-
Popular books can be hard to
get quickly through libraries
-
Specialized books are often
unavailable
-
Because of publication lags,
the material is usually somewhat dated
-
Often limited to
commercially profitable information
-
Usually offers only a single
perspective
|
Easily searchable through:
-
Online bookstores like
Amazon.com1
-
Conflict
supersites like CRInfo.org
-
Library
catalogs (many of which are
available online)
|
| Web Sites (often with reports,
monographs, newsletters, etc.) |
-
Extensive information now
being posted by all sides of most prominent conflicts
-
Generally free and instant
access
-
Often very up-to-date
-
Many official governmental
and non-governmental reports available
|
-
Highly variable quality
because of the "vanity publishing effect."
-
Quality information with
significant "income potential" is often published in book form
and may not be available
-
Quality sites sometimes
charge for information
|
Easily searchable through:
-
Conflict supersites like
crinfo.org
-
Web search engines like
google.com
-
Meta search engines like
metacrawler.com and researchville.com
|
| Current Online Newspapers |
-
Extensive world-wide
coverage available on a daily basis
-
Generally free and instant
access
-
News stories from many
different social and cultural backgrounds available
-
Newspapers offering
alternative perspectives are also available
|
-
Reporters have limited time
to research stories
-
Coverage confined to
"newsworthy" events
-
Tends to emphasize coverage
of confrontations over conciliation efforts
|
Links to online newspapers
available from sites like:
Many conflict related stories
available from:
-
CRInfo.org
-
BeyondIntractability.org
|
| Online newspaper archives
|
|
-
Has the same disadvantages
as current newspapers
-
Coverage limited to the last
10-20 years depending on source
-
Significant charges for
archived articles
-
Not available from all
newspapers
|
Searching easily available
from newspaper web sites listed by sites like
|
| Academic Journals, Popular
Periodicals |
-
Generally available through
research libraries
-
Journals tend to have
in-depth analyses
-
Popular periodicals may also
have useful information
|
-
Single copies of
journals hard to get
-
Older articles may be
available at research library or through online services like jstor.com
-
Journal articles may be of
more academic than practical interest
|
Academic journals
searchable through research library services like:
Popular periodicals available
through services like:
|
| Out-of-print Books, Old
Journals and Newspapers
|
- Available only through
research library collections, interlibrary loan, and used book
bookstore networks (which are increasingly computerized).
|
- Information likely to be
too dated to be useful (useful historical information is usually
picked up by more recent publications)
|
- Searchable through
library catalog systems (many of which are Web accessible)
|
| Networking
|
- Web searches are a great
way to identify and make initial e-mail contacts with others working
on related conflict problems, as well as people and organizations in
the area.
|
- Still requires personal
contact if at all possible
|
- Start with Web search and use
contact information to start process; supplement, of course, with direct
personal contacts and networking.
|
There are two basic types of Internet search tools cited
in Table II. First, there are the general-purpose search engines (like Yahoo.com
and Google.com) as well as library cataloging systems (which are usually
available online). There are also specialized search engines and Web supersites
focused specifically upon the conflict resolution and peacemaking fields (like
crinfo.org and http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk,
oneworld.org, and usip.org).
The general-purpose tools such as Yahoo and
Google catalog literally millions of web pages, print publications,
and other resources. They offer services which attempt to index every single bit
of information on public web servers. Because these sites have enormous ground
to cover, these sites are forced to do a fairly superficial job of cataloging relatively
low-profile conflicts and specialized fields like peacemaking and conflict resolution. As
a result, there are many resources that these sites are likely to pass over,
because their cataloging system is unlikely to capture the many nuances of the
particular conflict and field you are investigating. Still
these systems provide access to newspapers, books, journals, magazines,
newsletters, web pages, and directories of people and organizations that might
not be found elsewhereat least not nearly as quickly.
Specialized Search Engines
Also available are specialized search engines and
Web supersites focused specifically upon both the general conflict or issue you
are investigating (depending on whether it is a higher-profile conflict) and the
conflict resolution and peacemaking field as a whole. Of these specialized
"supersites," CRInfo is likely to be especially useful in
investigating your particular conflict since it
systematically seeks to include in its databases resources from other
specialized and general sources. Sires like CRInfo provide the same kinds of tools as the
big general-purpose systems; the difference is that it focuses exclusively upon
conflict in peace-related books, articles, newsletters, reports, web sites, and
organizational and individual information. By working with a much smaller body
of information, it is able to provide better coverage. Still, there are limits.
For more general information, as well as detailed information on highly specific
or low-profile conflict situations, it is better to consult the more general search systems.
|
|
|
|
