Third IASFM Conference Podcast

The IASFM conference podcasts are being released weekly now. The theme of this third podcast is "Regions at the Crossroads: Transregional Forced Migration," chaired by Susan Forbes Martin, with Aicha Belarbi, Ahmet Icduygu, Mark Schlakman, Susan Kneebone, and Jeffrey Crisp as the panelists.

Second IASFM Conference Podcast

As reported on the Forced Migration Discussion List and the Forced Migration Blog, the second podcast from the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) plenary session at the January 2008 conference is now available on Forced Migration Online (FMO).

This podcast includes the keynote address ‘Palestine refugees in the contemporary context: a view from UNRWA’ by Karen Abu Zayd, Commissioner General of UNRWA, followed by a panel discussion ‘The situation of refugees in the Middle East’ chaired by Maysa Ayoub, and including Helen Young, Patricia Fagen and Shahira Samy.

For other recordings in the series, visit the podcasts page on FMO.

Recommended Reading Lists

The Refugee Council recently created a web page with their recommendations for novels and biographies on the refugee experience. There are a number of web tools available that make it easy to set up personalized lists of recommended readings, whether they be for the general public, friends, work colleagues, or fellow researchers.

Amazon.com
- Online seller of books and many other products. Learn how to create a list of books that you find interesting and wish to share with other Amazon users. Here's one example: "Teaching Children about Refugees."

CiteULike.org
- Described as a free online service for helping you to organize your academic papers. It works like this: "When you see a paper on the web that interests you, you can click one button and have it added to your personal [CiteULike] library." You can add tags to each entry (see the articles that have been tagged "refugees") as well as build a bibliography.

Google Books
- Google's book search engine allows you to create your own library which you can share with friends and colleagues. Read the My Library FAQ to get started.

Worldcat.org
- A database of bibliographic records from library collections around the world. A sample reading list is provided on the home page, along with instructions on how to set up your own list.

FMO Podcasts: IASFM Conference

Forced Migration Online (FMO) announced today that it has released the "first podcast of a series recorded at the bi-annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM)." Held in Cairo in January 2008, the "opening plenary event covered the subject of ‘Emerging patterns of irregularity and their effects among migrants and refugees in the Middle East’."

Research Databases: Sciences, Economics

I have had occasion to use two online research databases recently for forced migration-related searches. The first, Scirus, describes itself as the "most comprehensive science-specific search engine on the Internet." You can use it to locate journal articles as well as web sources on a range of topics including public health and psychosocial issues. The second, IDEAS, is a repository of economics research and provides access to working papers, journal articles, and chapters in books.