New Database from the Rand Corporation: Voices of Jihad Database
Resource of the Week
By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor
Occasionally, here at ResourceShelf, we stumble across something so unique that our collective jaw hits the floor. This week's resource qualifies.
Terrorism--Databases
Source: RAND Corporation Voices of Jihad Database
The RAND Corporation is a venerable "think tank" that has been focused on national security problems for roughly 60 years. It began studying terrorism after the murder of Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich back in 1972. Its online Research Area in Terrorism and Homeland Security is content rich, offering news, commentary and analysis, research reports, and more. (See a complete list of full-text publications available here, arranged chronologically. You can also browse by author, category, or document series, or you can keyword search.)
Radical Islamic terrorist groups are heavy Internet users. They employ the Net as a recruiting tool, a communications mechanism, a training device, and a global soapbox. The folks at RAND have managed to index a wealth of material issued by these organizations and their members. Which leads us to this week's resource.
"This online database is a compilation of speeches, interviews, statements, and publications of jihadist leaders, foot soldiers, and sympathizers. Nearly all content is in English translation, and has been collected from publicly accessible websites. Original links are provided, along with excerpts and full-text content when available.... Content is indexed by date, author, affiliated group, online source, and keyword."
Just as an example...entering the keyword "women" in the search box brings up a fascinating variety of documents, including postings from jihadist message boards, articles from jihadist newsletters and other publications, excerpts from communiques, and more. Each record contains a brief description of the source, a short excerpt, and a link to the full text. You'll noticed results "clustered" by categories along the left side of the results page. That's because the database is powered by Vivisimo, whose Velocity search platform has been adopted by the federal government's FirstGov portal as well as a number of other federal agencies. (Read Gary's review in SearchEngineWatch last January.)
You can visualize what a valuable tool this is for intelligence analysts, scholars, writers... Says RAND: "The voices of jihad are numerous, varied, and constantly evolving. Jihadists often disagree on goals, tactics, and worldview; they may also change their message depending on the intended audience. The database content reveals several aspects of what might be termed a jihadist ideology, including:
+ Worldview (e.g., on democracy, the role of women, and global institutions)
+ Grievances (e.g., on the West or secular Arab regimes)
+ Justification of Terror and Violence
+ Exhortations and Calls to Jihad
+ Problems and Disagreements
+ Strategy and Tactics"
"By compiling the Voices of Jihad Database and making it available to the public, RAND hopes to enhance counterterrorism analysis, policymaking, and response."
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