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Assignment One - A Study of Conflict Diamonds

Wikipedia Articles

“Blood Diamonds.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Sep. 2012. Web. 30 Sep. 2012
"Diamond." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 30 Sep. 2012. Web. 30 Sep. 2012
"Kimberley Process Certification Scheme." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 24 Sep. 2012. Web. 30 Sep. 2012

Comparison Articles

Boyd, Bruce & Michel Braw Boucher. "Diamond." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica-Dominion, 2012. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/diamond
Brennan, Carol. "Diamond." How Products Are Made. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 30 Sep. 2012 http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/diamond.aspx#1
United Nations Environment Programme. "From conflict to peacebuilding: The role of natural resources and environment in conflict." Encyclopedia of Earth. Encyclopedia of Earth, 2009. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. http://www.eoearth.org/article/From_Conflict_to_Peacebuilding:_The_role_of_natural_resources_and_environment_in_conflict

Discussion

When selecting Wikipedia articles, I used the following criteria:

The article provides a fairly large amount of information (i.e. it is not a stub).
The article has a fairly specific focus (i.e. it is not covering a vast array of information such as country's main article).
The article is related to my initial search: Conflict Diamonds.

Searching for articles on Wikipedia regarding this topic was quite easy. My primary search for Conflict Diamonds was redirected to the Blood Diamond article. From this point, I was able to find information on the topic I have chosen including a hot link to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) main article. Due to its in-depth treatment of the subject by Wikipedia, I have selected the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme as an additional focus of my research, and to provide a general background, I have also chosen information on the mineral itself: Diamond.

When searching other encyclopedias, I encountered more difficulty finding articles that I could use. Most encyclopedias had an entry for diamond, but finding specific information on conflict diamonds and the KPCS was much harder. In the Canadian Encyclopedia, these subjects were included as short sections of the diamond article, and in the Encyclopedia of Earth, they were only mentioned in an article published by the United Nations Environment Programme. Encyclopedia.com had a detailed article from 1996 describing the creation and processing of diamonds but no articles regarding conflict diamonds or the KPCS.

As a frequent user of Wikipedia, I found it much easier to navigate and use than the other encyclopedias that I searched. This is to be expected due to the practice I have had, however another marked difference between the research tools was the availability and specificity of the information available. While I was performing my research in Wikipedia, I was able to find related topics and additional possibilities for research with one search and several clicks. The automatic re-direct from Conflict Diamonds to Blood Diamond brought me to the main article of the topic I wished to research, and from there I was able to follow hot-links within the text to my subsequent selections. Each of the articles I have selected have citations and suggestions for further research. They all also include hot links to more in-depth articles of the related subjects such as the countries involved. The other encyclopedias I used also listed works cited and had links/references to additional information, but often these were to articles which would have been included in the Disambiguation page on Wikipedia.

Assignment Two - A Comparison of Encyclopedic Articles

Wikipedia Article Summary

The Wikipedia article concerning blood diamonds begins by providing alternative terms and a definition of blood diamonds. According to Wikipedia, blood diamonds are diamonds which are sourced from conflict areas and used to fund war activities, normally against the government of the mine area. A brief history of blood diamonds is then given by country, focusing on different African nations’ political involvement with blood diamonds. The article then details the United Nations’ reaction to the exposure of blood diamond war-financing and the subsequent creation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). The KPCS is a certification system attempting to verify and trace the mining, importation and exportation of blood diamonds in order to ensure that no profits are used to fund war activities. Additionally, it was intended to support and stabilize the economies of war-torn countries by cutting down on criminal activity and insurgency as well as providing revenue for the government of these countries. However Wikipedia states that the certification scheme has ultimately failed to stem the flow of conflict diamonds due to the high level of corrupt government officials in diamond-rich countries.

Wikipedia also provides readers with a brief outline of the American and Canadian policies concerning blood diamonds. The United States of America has issued Executive Orders prohibiting the purchase of diamonds from Sierra Leone and subsequently Liberia, as Liberia is a recognized channel for Sierra Leonean conflict diamonds. The government of the USA also implemented a Clean Diamonds Trade Act to bolster the strength of the KPCS. This act has had a beneficial effect on the KPCS due to the large demand for diamonds in the United States. The Canadian government implemented the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act in 2002, requiring at minimum KPCS certification for any rough diamonds imported, exported or transported through Canada.

At the conclusion of the article, Wikipedia provides popular culture references to blood diamonds. The article is followed by a reference list which provides links to United Nations documents, the Partnership Africa website, newspaper articles, the World Diamond Council website, and the United States government websites. There is an additional section providing further reading characterized as literature and also links to external websites concerning blood diamonds.

Encyclopedia Britannica Article Summary

The Britannica article starts by providing the United Nations definition of a blood diamond. It then provides an overview of the entry of blood diamonds into the trading market and how global awareness of this trend caused pressure to be placed on diamond trading companies to trace the origins of their diamonds and ensure they are conflict-free. It provides statistics on the percentage of conflict diamonds on the market, saying that following the implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme it fell from 15% in the 1990’s to approximately 1% in 2010. However the article also states that these statistics are not necessarily accurate and could be simply documenting the percentage of conflict diamonds that are recognized as such by the UN and ignoring those which do not fit this strict definition. In some countries which are listed as conflict-free, the profits from diamond-mining are not used as economic growth but are instead used by corrupt government officials for their own personal agendas. Although the effects of this corruption can lead to impoverished and dangerous circumstances for the citizens of those countries, these diamonds are not recognized as blood diamonds.. This article only includes the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme article of the Encyclopedia Britannica itself as a reference, and has links to magazine articles containing the keyword ‘blood diamonds’.

Article Content

The content of the articles is comparable, with each article providing a similar overview of the history of blood diamonds and the development of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. The Wikipedia articles offers a more in-depth description of the history of blood diamonds in several African nations, with a small section devoted to Angola, the Central African Republic, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo, and Zimbabwe, while the Britannica article does not have a heading for each of these sections but instead mentions Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone in brief. Both articles provide information about the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, with the Wikipedia article providing a subsection on the subject and with the Britannica article providing a one-sentence description. The Wikipedia article provides more information about the organizations involved in the creation and implementation of the KPCS, as well as how it was intended to help and how it eventually failed. Both articles provide a link to further information on the KPCS within their own database. Wikipedia provides a description of how the American and Canadian governments have responded to the blood diamond crisis, as well as information about Canada’s diamond resources. There is also a listing of popular culture references to blood diamonds, listing film, television and video game use of this topic. None of this information is provided in the Britannica article.

Article References, Contributors and Further Readings

Wikipedia’s reference list is extensive, listing articles and works from multiple newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, and the Globe and Mail, and news agencies such as CNN and BBC. Additionally referenced are articles from the United Nations, the World Diamond Council, Partnership Africa Canada, Global Witness and the United States Government Accountability Office. These are reputable sources with verifiable authorship. Encyclopedia Britannica only lists one reference, which is the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme article of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The contributors listed for Wikipedia’s article are numerous, with over 100 contributors editing the page. The authority of these contributors is a little difficult to trace, as contributors are not required to list their qualifications on their user pages. The Britannica article had only one contributor who is the senior editor of science and technology at Encyclopedia Britannica. He also co-authored the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme article for Encyclopedia Britannica. For further reading, Wikipedia provides a list of literature and external links totalling 28 items to continue one’s research. These include authoritative books, and articles and fact sheets from internationally recognized institutions. There is a large source base from which a person can continue their research on this topic. The Encyclopedia Britannica also provides further reading, however they only provide ten additional magazine articles which contain ‘blood diamond’ as a keyword. These include popular culture references to ‘blood diamond’ and so some of them are not actually on the subject of blood/conflict diamonds but instead on the film industry. Additionally, in order to find this further reading the user has to navigate the sidebar and access a subsection within that sidebar.

Overall Article Quality Comparison

Both the Wikipedia and the Britannica article provide similar information regarding blood diamonds, however the Wikipedia article goes more in depth and provides a much broader range of information. Where the Britannica article is a basic history of blood diamonds from the rise of global awareness of the issue to the current state of affairs, the Wikipedia article a similar but more in depth history as well as an overview of the policies that different nations and organizations have developed in reaction to this awareness.

Both articles provide links to further information on subjects mentioned in the article such as Angola and the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, however due to the more extensive nature of the Wikipedia article, a greater number of subjects are provided with access to additional information on them. This provides the user with the ability to have a more thorough understanding of the material given in the blood diamonds article, as they can follow these links to learn the background information of the subjects covered. An example of this is the Global Witness organization and the World Diamond Council, both of which are mentioned and referenced in the Wikipedia article but not by Britannica.

The Britannica article has the advantage of being compendious: a general overview is provided in a clear and easy-to-follow way. The essential history of blood diamonds is conveyed in a sequential manner. The Wikipedia article is slightly less easy to follow due to the organization of the information. Whereas the Britannica article is presented in a single section, the Wikipedia is sub sectioned multiple times, creating a slightly ‘messy’ appearance. The ‘Contents’ bar does facilitate navigation of the article, and the fact that Britannica does not have contents list means that one must read the entire article to find the facts that are required and so there are clearly advantages to each style.

Works Cited

Billon, Philippe Le. "Diamond Wars? Conflict Diamonds And Geographies Of Resource Wars." Annals Of The Association Of American Geographers 98.2 (2008): 345-372. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.

Billon, Philippe Le, and Estelle Levin. "Building Peace With Conflict Diamonds? Merging Security And Development In Sierra Leone."Development & Change 40.4 (2009): 693-715. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Oct. 2012.

"Blood Diamond." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.

"Blood Diamond." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 6 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2012

Conflict Diamonds. United Nations Department of Public Information, 21 Mar. 2001. Web. 28 Oct. 2012 .

Hilson, Gavin, and Martin J. Clifford. "A ‘Kimberley Protest’: Diamond Mining, Export Sanctions, And Poverty In Akwatia, Ghana." African Affairs 109.436 (2010): 431-450. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.

Killing Kimberley? [Electronic Resource] : Conflict Diamonds And Paper Tigers. n.p.: Ottawa, Ont. : Partnership Africa Canada, 2006 (Saint-Lazare, Quebec : Gibson Library Connections, 2008)., 2006. Algonquin College Library Catalogue. Web. 28 Oct. 2012.

Lahiri, Sajal. "Blood Diamonds: International Policy Options For Conflict Resolution." Indian Growth & Development Review 3.1 (2010): 5.Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 28 Oct. 2012.

McClearn, Matthew. "Blood DIAMONDS Are Forever." Canadian Business 83.13/14 (2010): 59-65. Canadian Reference Centre. Web. 28 Oct. 2012.

Murphy, Shannon K. "Clouded Diamonds: Without Binding Arbitration And More Sophisticated Dispute Resolution Mechanisms, The Kimberley Process Will Ultimately Fail In Ending Conflicts Fueled By Blood Diamonds." Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal 11.(2011): 207. LexisNexis Academic: Law Reviews. Web. 28 Oct. 2012.

Raj, Shannon. "Blood Electronics: Congo's Conflict Minerals And The Legislation That Could Cleanse The Trade." Southern California Law Review 84.4 (2011): 981. Supplemental Index. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.

Wexler, Lesley. "Regulating Resource Curses: Institutional Design And Evolution Of The Blood Diamond Regime." Cardozo Law Review31.5 (2010): 1717-1780. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Oct. 2012.