31 Country Profiles - Information by Field (Information Research)
Description
This article is from the Information Research FAQ, by David Novak david@spireproject.com with numerous contributions by others.
31 Country Profiles - Information by Field (Information Research)
links and more at http://spireproject.com/country.htm
Certain questions require country specific data. The internet is a fine
source for this kind of information, dominated by data from large
international organizations (the UN, World Bank and WHO) and government
departments (CIA, UK Foreign Consular Office, Health Canada, Australian
Department of Foreign Affairs). This works in our favour: such
information attains a higher standard of quality than might otherwise
be expected on the internet. The down side: current information is
difficult to locate. Further commercial compilations exist with
particular strengths in economic analysis.
The Spire Project maintains a very fine html article on country
profiles, in many ways a flagship for our approach to assisted
research. All the links are on this article, so we will merely describe
available resources here. Start at http://spireproject.com/country.htm
As a fine example of liberating information from previously limited
circulation, country-specific data has flowed from many a government
and quasi-government institution. So much information, of such high
quality, has become available that several commercial interests have
abandoned the field altogether.
* International Travel Advisory Reports from USA, Canada, Australia and
the UK cover details of importance to travelers like health care,
crime, current security issues. These travel advisories only mildly
overlap so try to read each one and take note of the preparation date.
* Country Health Reports are released online from the CDC, Health
Canada, World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO).
* General and Demographic Country Profiles originate from the CIA, [US]
Library of Congress, US Department of State, UNICEF, US Census Bureau,
World Bank and the UN Statistical Division.
* Social profiles and detailed social incident reporting originates
from Amnesty International , the Red Cross, US Committee for Refugees,
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), US
Department of State, Refugees.org cover Human Rights, Refugees and
Armed Conflict in great detail.
* Economic Country Profiles are released by the governments of New
Zealand, Australia, United States, The OECD and the World Bank. More
market related profiles also exist from the EU, the US and the World
Trade Organization (WTO).
What this means:
The list of publishers above is literally a Who's Who of international
diplomacy and observation. Embedded within this field is also a story
of the liberation of information previously published in different and
predominantly closed systems. As each individual publication emerges
online, it adds to the wealth of information from other sources. Taken
collectively, we have a powerful trend giving rise to very high quality
information - a trend not unique to country profiles. In time we will
see this trend transform many information fields.
For years I was aware of a small binder by the front desk of the US
consulate help desk. The binder contained the latest bulletins and
alerts thought relevant to overseas travelers. Today, you are far more
likely to see this electronically as the US International Travel
Advisory Reports, delivered electronically at
http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html
Almost all of the electronic resources, with the notable exception of
the Country Indicators for Foreign Policy (CIFP) by the Canadian
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Norman
Paterson School of International Affairs, all these electronic
resources were previously published in paper. So the above list is
really a list of pre-existing publications now released on the
internet. This is both delightful, since we now have rapid access to
very fine publications, and delightful, since we can look forward to a
future with country profiles specifically designed for the web.
The library resources, like the "Europa World Year Book" (now in its
37th edition) and the "Compendium of Social Statistics and Indicators"
by the United Nations, publish data very similar to other publications
currently online. The notable exceptions are the publications of the
Far Eastern Economic Review and the Economist. These two financial
papers publish economic profiles both in print, and through their
periodical. This kind of data is a little higher quality than that
found online, and does not suffer the time-lag which is the one
accusation we can level against government information.
The commercial country profiles includes PERC (Political and Economic
Risk Consultancy), the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Bank of
America World Information Services, and then a number of
quasi-government or government publications for sale from Australian
Dept of Foreign Affairs, US Embassies and the OECD. Additional
publications exist and fall into one of these two categories.
The initial alternative information includes reading regional papers
and periodicals or reading and searching current news. For more depth,
there are international policy journals and scholarly journals with
expert commentary under peer review, or for simple questions, the
Ambassador, Consulate and Representatives both of your country and the
target country can help you answer specific questions.
Country Profiles makes for a very good microcosm of information
organization in action. Let us focus on how available country profiles
have changed over the last few years. We have a few commercial
publications, being offset by a range of free publications emerging
from government and quasi-government sources, and encroached by other
information resources of related information.
Continue to:
My Books
