Forced Migration Online - An Introduction And Overview
For more information about Forced Migration Online's audience see our user survey results.
I. What Is Forced Migration Online (FMO)?
Forced Migration Online is a comprehensive web site that provides access to a diverse range of relevant information resources on forced migration. It is a technically and intellectually administered resource, combining specialist subject knowledge with high standards of information management.
This unique system is designed to help users locate reliable information efficiently in the Internet environment. It differs from a search engine in that it targets a specific audience and focuses on a particular subject area – in this case, forced migration. It can therefore produce more relevant results and achieve greater depth in its coverage. To do this, it uses human mediators to select key documents and web resources, review and describe them, and link users directly to them. FMO adheres to international standards for organizing, managing and displaying information about the resources included in its collection. More detail about these standards is available in the various policy and guideline documents that can be accessed via the links below.
II. Structure
To the user, FMO appears as a seamless, integrated resource for searching and browsing purposes. However, it actually comprises several components that require different treatment from a technical development and information management point of view.
These components include:
- A searchable digital library consisting of full-text documents that can be read online or printed out
- Description: An initial set of unpublished documents was selected from the library collections at the Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford; the Feinstein International Famine Center, Tufts University, Boston; and the Program on Forced Migration, Columbia University, New York. Additional partners with specialized collections will be sought for future development of the digital library. Articles from the principal journals in the forced migration field (e.g., Journal of Refugee Studies, International Journal of Refugee Law, Disasters, etc.) represent another potential documentary source.
- For more information: See the Digital Library’s collection management policy and cataloguing guidelines.
- A searchable catalogue with descriptions of and links to Internet-based resources
- Description: The Web Catalogue houses bibliographic records that describe and provide links to the wealth of relevant information resources that are scattered across the Internet; the types of resources currently "collected" in the catalogue are outlined in our list of resource types.
- For more information: See the Web Catalogue’s selection policy, collection management policy, cataloguing guidelines, and resource discovery guidelines.
- A series of geographic and thematic research guides
- Description: Written by specialists, these guides provide overviews of the key issues in forced migration studies and significant populations of forced migrants around the world. They also address important thematic debates such as the situation of refugee children, psychosocial issues, and the plight of the internally displaced. In addition, the guides identify key relevant literature and other resources in both print and electronic formats.
- An organizations directory
- Description: This resource provides contact details and URLs for key organizations in the forced migration field.
III. Scope/Audience
1. Content
This section delineates the parameters of the collection included in FMO.
1.1 Audience
In 2005, the FMO team conducted a user survey to gain a greater understanding of the website audience. The targeted user group for FMO is anyone who undertakes research or seeks information in the field of forced migration – that is, students, academics, research institute staff, practitioners, librarians, policy makers, members of the media, information providers, and forced migrants themselves. In addition, FMO will represent a useful source of information for those who may not have ready access to print collections and information centres.
1.2 Definition of Forced Migration
There is much debate about the nature of forced migration. The purpose of having a working definition is simply to provide users with a reasonable understanding of the subject areas they can expect to be covered by this resource.
FMO uses the same definition as the one promoted by the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM). That is, forced migration is “a general term that refers to the movements of refugees and internally displaced people (people displaced by conflicts) as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine, or development projects.”
1.3 Subject Coverage
- In the context of the working definition, the subject areas covered by FMO include:
- Causes of flight
- Conditions in countries of origin (e.g., human rights violations, early warning, prevention, etc.)
- Responses to forced migration situations (e.g., emergency assistance, relief programmes, legal protection/asylum, resettlement, international humanitarian law, compensation, etc.)
- Experiences of forced migrants (e.g., adaptation, health, psychosocial issues, racism, etc.)
- Special groups (e.g., gender issues, children, indigenous peoples, etc.)
- Repatriation/return (e.g., post-war reconstruction, development/livelihood programmes, etc.)
- Impact/consequences of forced migration (e.g., environmental, economic, social, etc.)
- Organizations & actors (e.g., IGOs, NGOs, governments, aid workers, agents of persecution, etc.)
- Relationships with other fields of study:
- Forced migration overlaps with studies in development, conflict, disaster, and migration. Therefore, it can be difficult – and perhaps is not desirable - to establish very precise boundaries. To ensure relevance to FMO's users, however, the focus of selection should always be on forced migrants and the situations they are confronted with. For this reason, resources that discuss such things as disaster preparedness, development economics, security policy, or the brain drain generally will fall outside the scope of the collection.
- Forced migration is also a field of interest to users coming from a range of different disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives – e.g., the social sciences, area studies, medicine, and law. While the objective of FMO is to highlight forced migration-specific resources, certain resources with a broader scope may also be featured. This is because they may include forced migration within their coverage, and in doing so, serve as valuable research tools for FMO users.
1.4 Geographic Coverage
There are no geographic limitations.
1.5 Language Coverage
In principle, there are no language limitations; in practice, the languages included reflect the linguistic abilities of the editorial network currently in place and the ease or difficulty representing the languages in a web environment. The goal of FMO is to identify regional partners around the world who can help ensure that multiple languages are reflected in FMO.
IV. Access
The browser requirements for optimal use of FMO are Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6. For more information, please see our Accessibility Statement. At the same time, FMO has attempted to ensure accessibility by users with low bandwidth and limited Internet capabilities through its straightforward design and simple architecture.
V. Collection Management Issues
FMO is available to users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Links throughout the portal are checked automatically on a regular basis. Users who encounter broken links are encouraged to inform the FMO team using this feedback form. A more detailed policy on the conditions under which FMO (1) actively seeks to link to other sites and (2) agrees to link to other sites upon their request is available in our Linking Policy document.
New resources are added to FMO’s collection on a regular basis. More details about the maintenance of specific information resources are available in the collection management policies of the Digital Library and the Web Catalogue.
VI. FMO Team
FMO is coordinated by a small team based at the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford. The team is advised by a panel of core partners which currently include the American University in Cairo; Czech Helsinki Committee; Higher Education Digitisation Service; Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees in the UK; and Tufts University. More information about FMO team members and their partners is available in the “Partners section”.
|
