Violence Against Women in the Context of War, Conflict and Militarisation:

1. Violence Against Women in the Context of War, Conflict and Militarisation: Identifying Internet and Other Resources on Violence Against Women Multimedia Training Kit

2. Overview In this unit you will learn more about: • The Internet as a platform for VAW resources. • Tools and routes to finding online resources on VAW. • Appropriate ways of accessing more elusive/offline resources. Multimedia Training Kit

3. The Internet as a platform for VAW resources VAW resources can be found on the web sites of: • International organisations • High profile NGOs • Tiny grass-roots organisations • Newspapers and academic journals • Individual activists Multimedia Training Kit

4. The routes to resources • Finding resources follows a pattern of moving from the general to the specific, or the warm to the hot. • Use each journey to improve the efficiency of the next one. • We need: • a starting point – a “launch pad” – into relevant-ish resources. • to make the most of the warm resources we find, using them effectively to locate the most relevant resources. • to evaluate the resources we find for reliability and relevance. Multimedia Training Kit

5. Strengths and weaknesses of tools To find an effective launch pad, we need to take the strengths and weaknesses of search tools into account: • Search enginesGood for specific searches - “UN Security Council resolution 1325” “CEDAW”Not good if you need help finding a path through different subject areas - e.g. general search around reproductive rights issues affecting refugee women • Specialized databasesGood if you know of a database on exactly your subject areaNot goodif you need to search more broadly • Information gateways and subject directoriesGood for general exploration of a subject area, particularly if you need “quality controlled” resourcesNot good for specific searches on a named item Multimedia Training Kit

6. Some relevant databases Multimedia Training Kit

7. Genie: Gender Information Exchange Multimedia Training Kit

8. Mapping the world of women’s information services Multimedia Training Kit

9. Information gateways • Excellent launch pad for finding VAW resources • Entry points for resources from a whole range of other sources • Specialising in resources on a particular field • Usually searchable AND • Organised into hierarchical subject categories • Compiled by people, not robots • More focus on sifting for relevance and quality Multimedia Training Kit

10. Some relevant gateways Multimedia Training Kit

11. PeaceWomen Multimedia Training Kit

12. WHRNet: Women’s Human Rights Net Multimedia Training Kit

13. A note about subject hierarchies • Think creatively around your query • Look at it from alternative angles • Unpack your query into its various components • Observe the different categories these may fall under • Start with a general category • Click through layers of increasing focus Multimedia Training Kit

14. Example In these examples we can see how the same query may have a range of possible general starting categories, from which to develop focus and clarity Multimedia Training Kit

15. Exercise • List as many resource-finding launch pads as possible from the different types we have gone through • Split into groups and pick a theme for your group from: • Refugees • War crimes legislation • Reproductive rights • Conflict resolution campaigns • Women soldiers • Use a variety of different launch pads, to find: • An academic paper • An interactive tool (e.g. somewhere to report abuses) • The voices of women caught up in conflict • A very current news report • Use the worksheets to evaluate the launch pads for their usefulness in identifying resources Multimedia Training Kit

16. Using the Internet to find offline resources • Not all resources are accessible online • Some have not been published on the Internet • Others are within secure networks • Look for sign-posts to off-ramps that take you offline: • E-mail addresses • Institution names • Telephone numbers • Postal addresses • Look for the people behind the resources you seek • VAW experts are connected through networks in the same way that web pages are • Finding a relevant-ish person can often lead you to exactly the right person Multimedia Training Kit

17. Violence Against Women in the Context of War, Conflict and Militarisation: Identifying Internet and Other Resources on Violence Against Women Multimedia Training Kit