Peace Library
The Peace Library is an online Sri Lankan peace support resource, developed by Info Share. Partnering with international and local content providers, the Peace Library aims to be a source of information for anyone interested in conflict transformation, development, and human security. The Virtual Peace Library will connect disparate sources of information and store, organise and serve this information to local, regional and international stakeholders based on their unique information and peacebuilding needs.
With the Peace Library, Info Share is attempting to address, through information and communication technologies (ICTs), what they see as information gaps in Sri Lanka's peacebuilding process.
With the Peace Library, Info Share is attempting to address, through information and communication technologies (ICTs), what they see as information gaps in Sri Lanka's peacebuilding process.
Communication Strategies
In its first phase, the Peace Library comprised two Groove Virtual Office workspaces: the Peace Library Index, which is a comprehensive and searchable index of all documents in the Library; and the Peace Library Data space, which is an actual repository of files.
Coupled with the exponential growth of the library and heightened demands for information from stakeholders in the peace process, Info Share plans to launch a new Peace Library website.
This new Peace Library will be available to anyone with internet access anywhere in the world. The Library will have a broad range of content including news articles, white papers, documents, grant guides, donor information, reports, and research papers related to the Sri Lankan peace process in particular, and conflict transformation and peacebuilding in general. Many of the resource will be downloadable on demand.
Ultimately, the web portal will have content in 3 languages: English, Sinhala and Tamil and will also feature a wide spectrum of multimedia content related to peace and development.
The Virtual Peace Library aims to provide the means to transcend physical, political and logistical barriers, creating a neutral, accessible and scaleable platform for interaction and shared learning. Combining technology with the vast experience of conflict resolution and peacebuilding activists and theorists, the Virtual Peace Library is attempting to knit local knowledge to international resources. Info Share has indicated that the resources in the Virtual Peace Library will be continuously updated and revised, so that local users may continuously acquire cutting-edge conflict management skills and knowledge within a current global context.
Coupled with the exponential growth of the library and heightened demands for information from stakeholders in the peace process, Info Share plans to launch a new Peace Library website.
This new Peace Library will be available to anyone with internet access anywhere in the world. The Library will have a broad range of content including news articles, white papers, documents, grant guides, donor information, reports, and research papers related to the Sri Lankan peace process in particular, and conflict transformation and peacebuilding in general. Many of the resource will be downloadable on demand.
Ultimately, the web portal will have content in 3 languages: English, Sinhala and Tamil and will also feature a wide spectrum of multimedia content related to peace and development.
The Virtual Peace Library aims to provide the means to transcend physical, political and logistical barriers, creating a neutral, accessible and scaleable platform for interaction and shared learning. Combining technology with the vast experience of conflict resolution and peacebuilding activists and theorists, the Virtual Peace Library is attempting to knit local knowledge to international resources. Info Share has indicated that the resources in the Virtual Peace Library will be continuously updated and revised, so that local users may continuously acquire cutting-edge conflict management skills and knowledge within a current global context.
Development Issues
Conflict.
Key Points
The vision of the Virtual Peace Library will involve, among other things:
- Creating the most comprehensive information repository on peacebuilding and conflict transformation in South Asia, serving Sri Lanka and other countries grappling with post-conflict nation building.
- Linking to major information repositories in Sri Lanka, including physical libraries of the State, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and leading academics and intellectuals and feature links to existing regional and international libraries.
- Enabling local stakeholders to gain access to state-of-the-art peacebuilding techniques and strengthen their interventions with information on similar experiences in other peace processes and post-conflict zones.
- Enabling international partners and stakeholders to use the knowledge and output generated by multi-tier peacebuilding processes in Sri Lanka, delivered on-demand through the portal, to strengthen their own interventions.
- Setting the defining standard for information repositories in support of peacebuilding and conflict transformation.
Partners
Academy for Educational Development/United States Agency for International Development (AED/USAID); Beyond Intractability; Centre for Conflict Resolution; CRINFO; Human Security Gateway; Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies; Groove Networks; The Appeal for the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation; Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies; Centre for Policy Alternatives; J.R. Jayawardene Centre; Lake House Newspapers Ltd.; National Library and Documentation Services Board; Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies, Sri Lanka; Ravaya Newspapers; Social Scientists Association; and University of Jaffna.
Sources
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