Impact of the Internet ~ Online Libraries

 

 

 

Summary

 

"For all the changes already wrought by the arrival of the web, we are only at the beginning of an upward curve. Increases in computing power and expansion of broadband access will make it increasingly easy to more rapidly disseminate a richer array of information, e.g. live audio and video, multimedia and mapping images, and so on. In such circumstances, the problem of information overload becomes more pressing; the new frontier is a crowded place, and the difficulty for the web user is how to identify useful information and filter out the rest.

Websites offering this type of filtering are referred to as portals, and in the fragmented ICT4Peace community, they can make significant contributions to development of a culture of information sharing and development of an ICT4Peace community. Here the term ‘portal’ implies that the information is not created by the organization itself, but that the website collates information from other sources in order to act as a filter for the vast amount of information available on the web."

 

Excerpt from The Role of ICT in Preventing, Responding to and Recovering from Conflict, published by the ICT4Peace Foundation.

 

 

Resources

 

Campus ADR

http://www.campus-adr.org

 

The primary objective of the Campus Conflict Resolution Resources project (Campus-adr.org) is to significantly increase administrator, faculty, staff and student awareness of, access to, and use of conflict resolution information specifically tailored to the higher education context. 

 

Human Security Gateway (HSG)

http://www.humansecuritygateway.info/

 

The Human Security Gateway is a project of the Human Security Report Project (HSRP), School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University. It was established in 2002 as part of the Human Security Report Project at the Human Security Centre, Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia. It subsequently became a co–funded joint project of the Human Security Centre and the Canadian Consortium of Human Security (CCHS). The partnership ended in March 2007. In May, the Gateway project joined the School for International Studies as part of the Human Security Research Project.

 

Hurisearch

http://www.hurisearch.org/

 

HuriSearch is the only comprehensive search engine specialised in human rights information. It targets persons working with or interested in human rights, who need powerful search tools to access up-to-date and relevant information including: human rights monitors and researchers, students and academics, diplomats and persons working in international organisations, politicians and journalists.

 

Peace Education

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/peace/index.asp

 

Peace education is an integral part of the work of the United Nations. Through a humanising process of teaching and learning, peace educators facilitate human development. They strive to counteract the dehumanisation of poverty, prejudice, discrimination, rape, violence, and war. Originally aimed at eliminating the possibility of global extinction through nuclear war, peace education currently addresses the broader objective of building and sustaining a culture of peace. In this global effort, progressive educators world-wide are teaching the values, standards and principles articulated in fundamental UN instruments such as the UN Charter, Human Rights documents, the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the World Declaration on Education for All, and many others.

 

USIP LibraryPlus

http://library.usip.org/

 

Search the USIP Library's print and digital collections for books, periodicals, audio-visual materials, digital files (documents, audio and video presentations), and more. Use the advanced search for full-text searching of USIP Special Reports, Peaceworks, and additional digital items.

 

Dropping Knowledge Initiative

http://www.droppingknowledge.org/bin/home/home.page

 

dropping knowledge encourages social change. Using advanced web technologies, the initiative with offices in Berlin, Germany and Cambridge, MA, USA, links the voices of individuals and organizations. The web-platform enables the global public to ask and answer questions, exchange ideas, and start initiatives around the most pressing issues of our time. Events like the Table of Free Voices, campaigns like "ask yourself" and projects in cooperation with different partners create a meaningful bridge between the on and offline worlds. dropping knowledge e.V. is a registered non-profit association duly organized under the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. dropping knowledge's constitutional purposes are the promotion of international understanding and the promotion of art and culture. 

 

An introduction to activism on the Internet

http://www.backspace.com/action

 

Though written in 2005, a useful guide to social activism on the Internet.

 

Technology and the Resurgence of the Australian Peace Movement

http://www.engagingcommunities2005.org/abstracts/S67-trewhella-d.html

 

On Valentine’s Day weekend 2003, up to 500,000 people around Australia voted with their feet against the imminent invasion of Iraq. Around the world, as many as 10 million people joined public demonstrations on this weekend. This paper considers the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) to the contemporary peace movement. How was it used throughout Australia to build a movement and mobilise people? What role has it had in supporting and nurturing the movement since the war began? What further opportunities may it offer? This paper is based on qualitative research undertaken into the way the main peace groups in Victoria, NSW and South Australia employed technology to build their respective peace movements. It also includes perspectives from two long time peace advocates and activists, as well as helpful insights of another researcher who has been more broadly researching the role of ICTs and social movements.

 

The Communication Initiative

http://www.comminit.com

 

The Communication Initiative (The CI) network is an online space for sharing the experiences of, and building bridges between, the people and organisations engaged in or supporting communication as a fundamental strategy for economic and social development and change. It does this through a process of initiating dialogue and debate and giving the network a stronger, more representative and informed voice with which to advance the use and improve the impact of communication for development. This process is supported by web-based resources of summarised information and several electronic publications, as well as online research, review, and discussion platforms providing insight into communication for development experiences, including those focused on democracy and governance, conflict, and human rights.

 

Currently, The CI network process includes: The Communication Initiative: Global - http://www.comminit.com/en/mainpage/36 - in English, with a worldwide overview and focus; La Iniciativa de Comunicacion: Latin America - http://www.comminit.com/es/la - in Spanish, with a worldwide overview and focus on the Latin American experience and context; and, Soul Beat Africa - http://www.comminit.com/en/africa - in English, with a focus on the African experience and context.

 

International Network to Promote the Rule of Law

http://www.inprol.org/visitorhome

 

The aim of the International Network to Promote the Rule of Law (INPROL) is to assist international rule of law specialists in their efforts to prevent conflict and stabilize war-torn societies. An internet-based knowledge network, INPROL provides those serving in the field the ability to exchange information with other experienced practitioners and experts, and to access relevant documents, best practices, and related materials thus turning "lessons learned" into "lessons applied".

 

The Peacebuilding Initiative

http://www.peacebuildinginitiative.org/

 

 

The Peacebuilding Initiative, a web resource for peacebuilding practitioners, policymakers, and scholars, seeking to build and share their knowledge and experience. This material was developed by a team of expert scholar-practitioners and reviewed by advisers from a variety of institutional and geographic backgrounds, representing a diversity of perspectives. The portal synthesizes knowledge and experience in five thematic areas:

• Democracy and Governance;
• Economic Recovery;
• Justice and the Rule of Law;
• Psycho-social Recovery; and
• Security and Public Order.

 

Each theme is further divided into an introduction and five sub-topics, highlighting the range of activities undertaken in peacebuilding and offering in-depth analysis of the current state of research and practice. As we elaborated the thematic areas, we sought to highlight existing programs, organizations and publications at the forefront of the field.  Please note that we have included a link to your work in the Key References section of the thematic area pertaining to your area of expertise. The portal is conceived of as a living tool - to be informed by the perspectives, experience and knowledge of our users. As such, we warmly welcome comments and materials from our users to ensure the site remains a rich and relevant tool.

 

Technology for Peacebuilding Special Report

Project directed by Ronald "Skip" Cole and Teresa Crawford

http://ict4peace.wikispaces.com/Draft+Special+Report

 

The United States Institute of Peace has commissioned an inquiry a study into how technology can be, and has been, used for peacebuilding. Many experts in the field have been consulted on this, and their works and advice are reflected here.

 

Wikipedia

http://wikipedia.org

 

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project based on an openly-editable model. The name "Wikipedia" is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick") and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's articles provide links to guide the user to related pages with additional information. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by an international group of volunteers.

 

For Wikipedia's use in emergencies, read Facebook, Wikipedia better in emergencies. Wikipedia and other social networking tools like Twitter were also used extensively during the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008. Read Real Time Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks for a comprehensive look at the use of these technologies in crisis information management.

 

European Media Monitor (EMM, aka OPTIMA)

http://emm.newsbrief.eu/overview.html

Research and development efforts at the Joint Research Centre produced novel and unique software that gathers reports from news portals world-wide in 43 languages, classifies the articles, analyses the news texts by extracting information from them, aggregates the information, issues alerts and produces intuitive visual presentations of the information found.