I do not know why I never heard of the Guardian’s DataBlog before this morning. It is certainly a must-read for quantitative researchers. The basic premise is simple: every few days Guardian journalists use data to reveal things traditional journalism cannot. That is great in itself, but the true brilliance is that the Guardian posts all the data for download. Want to confirm their conclusions about civilian causalities in Afghanistan? Download the data, fire up R, and see for yourself. It is a great feature for the DIY generation and (if I might be so bold) a model for the future of journalism. Give me the story, but also give me the resources to find stories myself.
Three recent DataBlog posts (and their datasets) will interest Conflict Health readers:
Piracy around the world: all the attacks by pirates in 2009
Somali pirates are suspected after Paul and Rachel Chandler’s yacht disappeared off the coast of east Africa. Where else have pirates struck this year?
British dead and wounded in Afghanistan, month by month
What is the human cost of the war in Afghanistan for British forces? These are the latest figures – including new wounded statistics
Afghanistan elections: results of the investigation, polling station by polling station
The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission has published the results of its investigation into the Afghan elections. What did it say? And where did it investigate?
Christopher R. Albon is a political science Ph.D. specializing in armed conflict, public health, human security, and health diplomacy.
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