Making Effective Use of the Web
for Peace, Justice and Conflict Transformation

Introductory Observations

• The Web is both a valuable source of information and a supplement to traditional sources.
• Don't neglect traditional sources -- especially knowledgeable and experienced people.
• Email, lists, bulletin boards, blogs, etc. are very important information sources but will not be covered here.
• If the Web is an ocean of information, it can then be said to consist of at least two parts .
  
  
• The "surface" or "visible" Web -- less than 25% of the Web's content.


• It's data is available to everyone through search engines and directories.
• It contains the "stuff" you find by surfing the Web.


• The "deep" or "invisibile" Web -- more than 75% of the Web's content.


• Access to its free data is very limited.
• Access to its free data is usually gained through the search features of specific sites.


• If site sponsors are unknown, these sites are usuaslly found by using directories.
• If site sponsors are known, these sites may be found using a standard search for the sponsor


• It's data is often in commercial sites which require subscriptions or access fees.
• It's data is frequently available in libraries which have prepaid these access fees.
• Licenses usually restrict access to fee databases to members of the library community in question.
• However, licenses usually allow full access to fee databases to on site visitors.


• There are two basic approaches to accessing Web content.


• Searching from home or from your office


• You can use search engines and directories to access date in the suface Web.
• You can use search engines and directories to identify databases which contain data in the deep Web.


• Searching in libraries


• You can use subscription databases to access commercial databases from the deep Web.


• A few cautions and clarifications on the use of Web pages.


• Anyone can have a web site and become a self-proclaimed expert.


• This is both a great strength and a great weakness of the Web.
• "Anyone" includes experts and well-informed amateurs as well as the uninformed but opinionated ("yahoos," "dingdong," etc.).
• Consequently you will find both "establishment" and "movement" or "point of view" sites.
• On the positive side the Web has become an excellent way for the voiceless to acquire a voice.
• You need to exercise considerable critical judgement in evaluating every site.


• The Web is like Wal-Mart with a little bit of everything of mixed quality.


• The ratio of high quality sites to low quality sites (AKA junk) is relatively low.


• Libraries are like malls with high quality specialty stores.


• The ratio of high quality sites to low qualtiy sites (AKA junk) is very high.


• Choose sites carefully.

Researching from home or office.

• Search engines are the most obvious means of finding information on the Web.
• There are many search engines available each with its own strengths and weakenesses.
• Currently, four of the more frequently used search engines are:


• Google
• Yahoo
• Ask Jeeves
• MSN Search


• SearchEngineAlert has a list of many of search engines with evaluations.
• The most familiar and popular search engine is Google.


• To make most effective use of Google (and other search engine), become familiar with its features.


• Google assumes a logical "and" operator between search terms.
• To broaden results put synonyms within parentheses separated by "ORs" (in caps).
• There is a currently a limit of ten search terms (including "ORs") in a single search.
• Google supports automatic truncation for plurals and other common word variations.
• Word order and the repetition of search terms effects search results.
• Words surrounded by quotation marks are treated as phrases.
• Google search algorithms (models) are secret.
• Additional features are on the help page but not all features are documented.
• Important undocumented or experimental features are often discovered by hackers.


• Google has many specialized searches including "News."


• Search engines including Google do not do "live" searches.
• Search engines search an index created by "spiders" and "crawlers."
• It takes weeks to index or refresh the whole "surface" Web.
• Google News indexes a much smaller number of selected Web sites.
• It only takes hours to update Google News.
• For current news, search Google News.
• For older and broader coverage, search Google.


• Valuable information sources may have their own "databases" which are inaccessible to search engines.
• To locate them "Google" the name of the organization.


• Search for the name of the organization by placing the name within quotation marks.
• For example, "Amnestry International", "Human Rights Watch" and the "New York Times".


• If sources are not yet known, use general "directories" and specialized web guides and sites to identify them.


• General directories:


• Google Directory
• Yahoo Directory


• Specialized guides:


• Libweb, Library Servers via WWW
• Guide to Foreign Government Documents
• Governments on the Web
• International Agencies and Information on the Web
• CRInfo (conflict resolution information source)
• College-Level Teaching Programs (CRInfor)


• Specialized educational, personal, governmental and intergovernmental sites (unordered sample):


• SPIRI & ISN
• Amnesty International
• Johns Hopkins
• CSIS Center for Stategic & International Studies
  
• Foreign Affairs Online
• Foreign Policy Association
• Foreign Relations of the U.S.
• Global Policy Forum (UN)
• Human and Constitutional Rights
• Human Rights
• International Crisis Group
• U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs
• U.S. Department of State, Foreign Media Reaction
• The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources
• CIA
• European Union
• European Parliamemt
• Inter-parliamentary Union
• Organization of American States


• "Bookmark" relevant sources from searching, directories and guides for future use.
• Once at a homepage, use it's internal search engine or directory to retrieve documents.

Researching in libraries

• No matter how good your research from home or office, most deep Web data will not be accessible.
• Most but not all libraries will allow on site visitors to access their fee databases.
• This includes public libraries and academic libraries (both public and private)
• Access rules and regulations vary from library to library.
• In almost all cases, primary community members will have priority access.
• Usually there is no charge for access.
• Unless you are already familiar with the library, a virtual visit via the Web is a good idea.


• Libweb, Library Servers via WWW


• Here are is a list of resources which you might need -- with selected sample databases.


• For Peace Studies as an academic discipline:


• Peace Research Abstracts Journal -- the only strictly Peace Studies index available.


• For books:


• The local libaries catalog -- usually available free on the Web. Use before arrival.
• WorldCat -- Books, Journals, Videos, etc. in over 3000 libraries.


• For articles in periodicals consult general indexes:


• Academic Search Premier (EBSCO)
• Expanded Academic ASAP (InfoTrac)
• P.A.I.S International
• Web of Science


• For articles in specific academic disciplines:


• Anthropology -- Anthropological Literature
• History, Non-U.S. -- Historical Abstracts
• History, U.S. -- America: History and Life
• Economics -- EconLit
• Political Science/International Affairs -- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
• Pyschology -- PsychLIT
• Sociology -- Sociological Abstracts
• Theology / Religion -- ATLA Religion Index


• For newspaper articles:


• Factiva (Dow Jones and Reuters)-- international, English language publications
• Lexis/Nexis Academic -- international, English language publications
• WNC (World News Connection) -- international, non-English language publications translated into English


• For policy briefs, working papers and reports:


• CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online


• Sample pages at the University of Notre Dame


• ND LIbrary Homepage
• ND Catalog
• KKIC (Kellogg/Kroc Information Center) page
• ND Library Peace Studies subject page
• Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies

Lastly

• if you identify sources while using the Web which are not available on the Web, investigate Interlibrary Loan (ILL).


• ILL can get almost anything you need.
• ILL will need an accurate citation and a little time.
• Some items come more quickly; some take a lot longer.
• ILL is available at most libraries (public and academic).
• ILL is almost always available only to people with regular borrowing privileges.
• Since most public libraries have ILL services, almost everyone will have a library they can use.
• Ask for details at the local Reference or Circulation Desk; some libraries don't advertise the service.
• Be sure to ask about costs. It's often free but not always.

One more thing

• Since the Web is a dynamic, constantly changing environment, almost any and everything contained in this guide could become dated tomorrow.