Tools and Sources Used



- Why This Topic:

As an avid activist that focuses on issues pertaining and effecting the MENA (middle east and north Africa), I already knew a lot of sources from which to obtain data and information for this project. Additionally, I have many friends that work with and know of organizations that help put out information regarding Palestine and Israel. The process I used to gather data for this project was to ask some friends to point me to websites where I can find statistical information regarding Israel and Palestine, as well as visiting sites that I already knew of. In addition, I also simply Googled “Palestine and Israel statistics” to see what other possible websites and data I could get. So far, I have found great amounts of quality data from sources that shall be listed at the end of this progress report. All of these sources are well cited and well accredited. Many of these sources fall into three main categories: well-known and respected news sources, certified and trusted human rights organizations, and individual freelance journalist reporting (such as Ben Norton who is a fellow activist and friend of mine that has done copious amounts of human rights work in DC and abroad). These sources have given me information and data regarding many aspects that pertain to the topic that I am molding my project around (Palestinian-Israeli Issue: Israeli Apartheid and Palestinian Resistance). An example of what type of data I am collecting from these sources would be the overall number of Israeli deaths and injuries and Palestinian deaths and injuries, children fatalities of Israelis and Palestinians, children fatalities by age group, region and cause of death, children used as human shields, US military aid amount, etc.


- Which tool you picked, why, and how they helped your visual presentation:

The tools I have picked for this project are pie charts and bar graphs, in order to show how certain data compared to each other. In order to show the percentage individuals killed during combat, or the percent of political prisoners currently detained, among other data, I used a pie chart to easily display the data compared to the whole data. When trying to emphasize comparisons of data, or to compare more than one set of data to itself and others, I used a vertical bar graph, in order to deliver more than one piece of information to the audience effectively. The disparities between certain crimes committed by which country can be more effectively noticed and recognized by the visual aid of the graphs, as well as trends regarding crimes throughout the years. There is an obvious power disparity when you view the data via charts; Israel overwhelmingly take the lead in regards to how many innocent civilians they’ve killed, settlements illegally built, children they’ve detained, etc.


- Your learning process for the use of that tool:

The learning process was the same as working with my individual project 1 and 2, where I had to learn how to make columns and code the data into the graphs in order to appropriately display the data in a way that would allow the audience and viewer to easily see the similarities and differences that the data was trying to convey. I also had to learn how to compile multiple graphs onto one page (html file).


- Where did you get your data: I got my data from the following: