230 Websites and Blogs for Terrorism Research

Compiled and selected by Judith Tinnes

Abstract

This resource collection lists 230 websites and blogs which are deemed to be valuable information sources for serious researchers in the field of (counter-) terrorism studies. The first part lists websites run by academic, governmental, non-governmental, and private institutes, organisations, companies, as well as individual experts. The second part of the collection comprises blogs, many of them containing analyses of primary source materials as well as up-to-date news.

Introduction

The following resource collection lists 230 websites and blogs that are likely to be useful for students, researchers, and professionals in the field of terrorism and counter-terrorism. It is update as of end of May 2013. The first part comprises websites run by a broad spectrum of actors in the field, including academic, governmental, and private institutes, organisations, companies, and individual experts. Many of the sites contain so-called “Grey Literature”, i.e., non-conventional publications such as reports, working papers, or research briefs. Generally, grey literature is often harder to locate than conventional literature (such as journal articles or books) because it is “neglected by most library catalogs and databases”[1]. It encompasses a broad range and variety of materials. Many of the publications are original, covering topics in a thorough, in-depth fashion – often surpassing in length conventional journal articles. To find publications at a particular website, researchers are advised to search for the relevant section (often entitled “Publications”), which can be retrieved either by browsing or via the site map. A Google search with the site operator (e.g.: publications site :ctc.usma.edu) may also deliver satisfactory results.

The second part of this resource collection covers blogs maintained by terrorism experts. In the dynamic field of terrorism research, blogs are an invaluable information source as they provide users topical and thematic information. Many terrorism research blogs publish well-founded analyses of primary source materials (e.g., statements, video, and audio publications by terrorist organisations), point to news sources or expert literature and also provide links to additional relevant websites (so-called “Blogroll”). Several bloggers in the field run accompanying Twitter accounts where they tweet news headlines and information on newly released publications by terrorist and counter-terrorist organisations, enabling readers to track events in nearly real-time.

The resources assembled here were identified by scanning a variety of information sources such as bibliographies, institutional resource guides and expert blogs. Like every hand-searched resource collection, this one reflects subjective choices. Since the information requirements of researchers differ, the present resource list should not be used as single source for website and blog retrieval in the wide interdisciplinary field of terrorism studies. Especially for disciplinary sub-topics, researchers are advised to look out for additional online resources tailored to their specific needs. Readers should also keep in mind that this list focuses mainly on English-language resources. However, there is a growing amount of Internet resources available in other languages for those who have the necessary language skills….

230 Websites and Blogs for Terrorism Research