COLLABORATIVE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL:
THE CASE OF NIGERIA WATCH DATABASE
BY
Philip Olayoku (Ph.D), Ukoji Vitus (M.A), James Okolie-Osemene (M.A)
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria Watch is an online database that compiles violent deaths in
Nigeria since 2006. The project began in Paris in June, 2006 and was
brought back to Nigeria in July, 2013 after a group of 4 Nigerian
researchers were hired.
Nigeria Watch aims to monitor homicides and violent deaths
(including accidents) as well as provide statistics for trend analysis of
such deaths in Nigeria. With such statistics, decision makers are
equipped with relevant information for policy formulation. However,
these objectives have not been achieved without the collaboration
with different stakeholders at difference phases of information
retrieval.
The emergence of distributed data collection, communication and
control channels in organizations has created a more suitable
environment for collaboration. Organizations such as Nigeria Watch
no longer work as isolated units in solving complex problems. Rather,
they depend on collective information gathering, assimilation, and
creation for solutions. This systemization of knowledge through
proper information flow has kept professional organizations
competitive and innovative. Acknowledging the potency of
collaboration in solving complex problems, London (1995) saw
collaboration as a synergy between two or more organizations, or
other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their
separate effects. To this effect, this paper discusses collaborative
information retrieval within Nigeria Watch, their collaborative
activities with the academia and other institutions that share similar
goals.
COLLABORATIVE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL WITHIN
NIGERIA WATCH
Today's communication encompasses several aspects of collaborative
information retrieval. Nigeria Watch has adequately systemized
information gathering, assimilation, and creation by collaborating with
specialist in information technology and the print media.
Information Technology (IT) Specialists
IT specialist applies technical expertise
to the implementation, monitoring, or
maintenance of IT systems. Opsomai
Media provides Nigeria Watch with a
unified data management system and
manages its database in accordance with
the rules in force in the company. By
installing the server in the work station,
the company ensures that data are
stored, secured and processed for further
complex queries.
Opsomai Server in Nigeria
Watch Station
The Print Media
Nigeria Watch sources its data from ten Nigerian daily newspapers
including Vanguard, Punch, Nigerian Tribune, The Nation, Daily
Trust, Daily Sun, Daily Independent, Thisday, Leadership and The
Guardian. Data on reported cases of violent deaths across the
country are extracted and fed into the database on daily basis.
The collaboration with the print media
hinge on the fact that Nigeria has one of
the most consistent and advanced media
in Africa.
Nigerian Daily Newspapers
TYPES OF COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITIES IN NIGERIA WATCH
Activities within Nigeria Watch are categorized into document- related and humanrelated collaborative activities.
1.
Document-related Collaborative Activities
Collaborative information retrieval activities in Nigeria Watch involve sharing
information on published patent applications, working notes and smart boards. Two
types of document-related collaborative activities identified in Nigeria Watch
include:
(A) Paper-based collaborative activities which involve information sharing using
stickers, catalogues, comment books, instructional papers and rules of
engagement).
(B) Electronic-based activities involving the use Drop box, Team viewer, Skype
and Yahoo messenger to share information.
Paper Notes
Team Viewer
Skype
2.
Human-related Collaborative Activities
Such activities focus on establishing effective communication
channels and exchange of ideas among team members.
The members share opinions and
ideas on complex issues. This
exchange of ideas enrich data and
facilitate the treatment of violent
incidents. Furthermore, the sitting
arrangement makes it easier for
the team members to discuss
events and get first hand
information on the exact locations
of occurrence as well as the
protagonists.
Desk arrangement for Team
Members in Nigeria Watch
NIGERIAN WATCH ACADEMIC PROJECTS
•
The Nigerian Watch Project through partnership with
IFRA-Nigeria engages scholars in the Humanities and
social sciences through projects designed to fit into the
database on violent deaths
•
The current Project has about 24 scholars working on
various topics which are broadly categorized under the
Visible and Invisible Violence categories. Topics
covered include Land Pressure, Maritime Piracy,
Witchcraft and Cult Societies, Rural Violence, Political
Violence and Electoral Processes
CREATION OF SCHOLARS’ NETWORK
•
The Nigerian Watch, through its data base, is directed
towards attracting scholars to work on individual and
collaborative projects; especially as it pertains to the
contributions on examining and managing violence in the
society.
•
The Partnership with IFRA-Nigeria also involves engaging
with the IFRA-Nigeria research Fellows which has a broad
network of academics and graduate students within and
outside Nigeria.
•
The Project also embarks on the training of users, and
monitoring the use of the database in order to help the
maximisation of its utilization by scholars.
DATA POOL FOR SCHOLARS
VISUALIZATIONS
Graphs
Maps
PUBLICATIONS FROM NIGERIA WATCH
DATABASE
IFRA-Nigeria academic article on victims and
targets of the Boko Haram crisis
“Body Count and Religion in the
Boko Haram crisis: Evidence from
the Nigeria Watch database” Chouin
G., Reinert, M., Apard-Malah, E., in
Pérouse de Monclos, M.-A., Boko
Haram: Islamism, Politics, Security
and the State in Nigeria, Ibadan,
Leiden: IFRA-Nigeria, ASC, West
African
Politics
and
Society
(WAPOSO) Series
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR COLLABORATIVE
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL IN NIGERIA WATCH
The relevance of data on violent deaths is required for effective conflict
mapping in most parts of Nigeria and that is why Nigeria Watch exists as a
project backed by the Nigeria Security and Reconciliation Programme
(NSRP), supported by Institute of French Research in Africa (IFRANigeria) and collaborate with other stakeholders in peacebuilding and
conflict mapping.
Nigeria Watch and IFRA-Nigeria
IFRA-Nigeria is a non-for-profit Institute set up to promote research in the
social sciences and the humanities, as well as enhance collaborative work
between scholars in France and West Africa.
The partnership between Nigeria Watch and IFRA manifests in different
ways including logistics, research collaboration, scientific contributions
and supervision. Nigeria Watch is housed by IFRA-Nigeria in 9 Parry
road, an IFRA annex. The accommodation made it possible for the
installation of IT facilities in the work station. With the appointment of an
IFRA staff as the Project Scientific Director, work in Nigeria Watch has
been accorded adequate attention.
The Nigeria Stability And Reconciliation Programme (NSRP)
and Nigeria Watch Database.
The Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP),
funded by the UK Department for International Development
(DFID) and implemented by the British Council aims to reduce
violent conflict in Nigeria.
Nigeria Watch is funded by NSRP. As the sponsor, NSRP has full
access to the database. The database is often utilized by NSRP
during trainings and workshops. Civil societies and state security
agencies collaborate with NSRP to analyze conflict dynamics.
Through these collaborative exercises, inputs from different
perspectives and understand on conflict issues have been effectively
utilized for conflict analysis.
Peace and Security Working Group (PSWG)
Peace and Security Working Group was established to enhance the
effectiveness and coordination of interventions that are designed to
reduce conflict, or to prevent the start or resumption of violent conflict
in Nigeria. Members include Fund for Peace, Mercy Corps, NSRP,
IFRA/Nigeria Watch, Fund for Peace/Partners for Peace in the Niger
Delta, Search for Common Ground, CITAD, SDN, USAID, Working
Group on Armed Violence and others not listed.
Information retrieval and sharing remains cardinal to the enhancement
and coordination of the groups’ peacebuilding. Nigeria Watch, NSRP
and other members of the PSWG conduct regional analyses and also
issue reports on violence at community, local government, state levels
with emphasis on the trends and patterns of violent deaths. Updates,
reports on violent deaths and publications are shared among members of
the group through Dropbox. Every member of the group has a dropbox
account for easy access to and circulation of information (see
www.nigeriawatch.org/media/html/NigeriaWatch-Newsletter01.pdf).
INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES
Every research requires innovation and this makes Nigeria Watch
Project timely to fill the gap that exists in violence research. This is
considering the innovative strategies of Nigeria Watch, NSRP and
other members of the peace and security working group in advancing
knowledge on the trends of violent deaths through information
retrieval. For example, with the database, organizations like the NST
and WANEP would be able to identify hotspots that require
peacebuilding intervention.
Nigeria Watch is in line with several innovative developments. The
mapping of violent deaths is carried out through different approaches
which include mapping of the relative number of deaths, the absolute
number of deaths, and the protagonists among others. Understanding who
the protagonists also enables the members of this group to identify areas
of need and ways of utilizing the data.
PROSPECTS OF COLLABORATIVE INFORMAT-ION RETRIEVAL
BETWEEN NIGERIA WATCH AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS
The collaborative engagement would be relevant in enhancing the
knowledge of people on the trends of violent deaths in Nigeria, and
create a platform for policymakers to respond to the need for
developing violent death abatement measures across the country.
Through the supportive role of IFRA–Nigeria, and NSRP, other think
tanks would be able to acquire knowledge of using Nigeria Watch
database to facilitate the production of monthly and weekly conflict
bulletins in their various organizations.
The database if given the necessary attention by research institutes would
shape the nature of public policy intervention, especially that which
requires coordinated efforts to prevent the upsurge of violent conflicts in
Nigeria.
The PSWG and all think tanks involved in violence research would be
able to develop and utilize more tools of information sharing, taking
more advantage of social media.
The collaboration between IFRA-Nigeria, NW, NSRP, and PSWG
collaboration would definitely address the gap on poor institutionalized
academic research on violence capable of creating a road map for
conflict transformation and violence prevention.
If not this timely collaboration it would have been farfetched for Nigerians
to get snapshots of the trends and patterns of conflict risk factors at the
State and Local Government Area (LGA) levels in the country.
We conclude that NW, NSRP and PSWG initiative is timely because it has
the capacity to advance collaborative/comparative research on violent
conflicts in Nigeria.
REFERENCE
1.
London, S. (1995). Collaboration and Community. Retrieved from http://scottlondon.com/reports/ppcc.htm