Visualising the Conflict: Immersion in the Landscape of Victims and Commemoration in Northern Ireland ETHNO-NATIONAL DIVISIONS, STATES AND CITIES

Abstract The University of Ulster received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council Following the completion of the original project the AHRC announced additional capital funding and called for proposals to the Digital Equipment and Database Enhancement for Impact (DEDEFI) Scheme. CAIN submitted a proposal for a second project which was designed to improve the access to, and the impact of, the databases which were compiled during the first project. Crucial to its success was the provision of a visual dimension enhancing the databases collected during the first project. These databases included a new database of information and photographs of physical memorials across Northern Ireland, and an updated version of Malcolm Sutton's Index of Deaths which included recently obtained latitude and longitude co-ordinates. A key element of the second project involved mapping location data related to victims and commemoration onto the Web. This was undertaken using both Google maps/earth and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to locate and add the latitude and longitude values for each record in the databases. GIS software was also used to analyse the data and to produce high quality maps. These maps show the location of deaths and memorials related to the conflict, correlated with various socio economic factors. They are designed to provide a spatial dimension and context for the data which they exhibit. This paper discusses the techniques used to create these maps and highlights some of the key findings to arise from them. An additional element of the project was the development of a virtual educational space in Second Life. The project has produced innovative material, which will be made publicly available on the CAIN website during 2011, and insights for those studying or researching the conflict within and about Northern Ireland.

Archiving Qualitative Data in the Context of a Society Coming out of Conflict: Some Lessons from Northern Ireland.

ARK (Access Research Knowledge) wurde mit dem Ziel etabliert, sozialwissenschaftliche Informationen über Nordirland so weit wie möglich frei verfügbar zu machen. Der wohl bekannteste und am weitesten genutzte Teil der ARK Web Resource is CAIN, die gröβte Kollektion von Online-Material und Informationen über den Nordirlandkonflikt. CAINs neue Sektion "Remembering: Victims, Survivors and Commemoration" hat das Thema der Sensibilität dieses Datenmaterials aufgeworfen sowie die Frage, wie dieses Material generell in die Grundsatzdebatte um das Erbe des Nordirlandkonfliktes einzuordnen ist. Es ist zu fragen, inwieweit das Archivieren eine politisch neutrale Tätigkeit sein kann. Dies fordert zu einem Diskurs über die Ethik und die Verantwortung von Sozialforscher/innen heraus. Die Erfahrungen von ARKs Northern Ireland Qualitative Archive (NIQA) erlauben Schluβfolgerungen über die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen eines qualitativen Archivs zum Nordirlandkonflikt.ARK (Access Research Knowledge) was set up with a single goal: to make social science information on Northern Ireland available to the widest possible audience. The most well-known and widely used part of the ARK resource is CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet), which is one of the largest on-line collections of source material and information and about the Northern Ireland conflict. The compilation of CAIN's new Remembering: Victims, Survivors and Commemoration section raised issues related to the sensitivity of the material, as it feeds into the fundamental debate on the legacy of the Northern Ireland conflict. It also fundamentally raises the question to what extent archiving is a neutral or political activity and necessitates a discourse on responsibility and ethics among social researchers. Experiences from the establishment of the Northern Ireland Qualitative Archive (NIQA) shed light on future possibilities with regard to qualitative archives on the Northern Ireland conflict.ARK (Access Research Knowledge) fue creado con un solo objetivo: hacer accesible información en ciencias sociales sobre Irlanda del Norte a la mayor audiencia posible. La parte del recurso ARK más conocida y utilizada globalmente es CAIN, que es una de las colecciones on-line más grandes de recursos materiales y de información sobre el conflicto norirlandés. La compilación de la sección de CAIN, titulada "Remembering: Victims, Survivors and Commemoration" (Recordando: Víctimas, supervivientes y conmemoración) planteó problemas sobre la sensibilidad del material, pues se nutre del debate fundamental sobre el legado del conflicto norirlandés. Además, ha hecho resurgir la cuestión sobre hasta qué punto archivar es una actividad neutral o política, y en qué medida se necesita un discurso sobre responsabilidad y ética entre los investigadores sociales. Las experiencias al fundar NIQA (Archivo Cualitativo de Irlanda del Norte) han iluminado futuras posibilidades respecto a los archivos cualitativos sobre el conflicto norirlandés