Admin: A Few Changes...

Two weeks ago, I indicated that I would be making some changes to this blog so that it was easier for me to manage and update, particularly after I have been away from my computer for an extended period. Now that I have cleared out my backlog of references, I am ready to begin tweaking the kind of information I post.

As a reminder, my principal objective has been to support the forced migration research community by facilitating access to full-text information online. When I first launched this service, I posted four categories of information types -- "publications," "periodicals," "events & opportunities" and "web sites/tools" -- on four separate blogs! I eventually integrated them under one umbrella blog, and subsequently began grouping references under regional and thematic headings to create mini-bibliographies.

Over the years, a number of information sources have come and gone on this blog (theses & dissertations are one example). Deciding what to set aside generally comes down to how much of a challenge it is to monitor and whether or not it is easily accessible via another service. With that in mind, I will begin reducing coverage of these information types/themes:
- News/media reports: Over time, what I count as a "publication" has greatly expanded to include a lot more news and commentary. However, I never intended to run a news blog and there are much better resources out there for monitoring current developments (Twitter, for one!).
- Events & opportunities: I have never felt that this was a strong suit of mine, and to do this properly requires visiting a wide variety of resources. While I will still reference events & opportunities on occasion, I will dispense with the monthly postings.
- Health-related issues: Since this is a more specialized subject area and since there is already a great database available (PubMed), I will longer systematically monitor health matters, although the occasional health-related reference may still appear under the regional groupings.
- Display of legal references: I used to be more diligent about bookmarking references to relevant law review articles that were not available full-text. These in turn were displayed on the right side of my blog just under the search box. Since the display is now out-of-date, I will be removing it. Apologies!

Moving forward, my emphasis will continue to be on open access journal articles and books/book chapters, as well as grey literature in the form of research reports, working/discussion papers and conference materials (including multimedia). I will continue to highlight new issues of periodicals, even if they are not open access, since this is a key way to discover what articles have been written and whether or not other versions of them are available.

This week, I will prepare various posts on how to track down specific types of information as well as information on specific themes/issues.

Thanks for your patience and support! And please share any thoughts you might have in a comment.