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The purpose of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) Archive is to document, collect, preserve, and interpret the GWOT, from the perspective of the men and women fighting the war. By providing user-friendly methods to submit primary or eyewitness accounts of war, the GWOT Archive seeks to capture the stories that would otherwise never be told. The archive serves as a "Patriot's Beacon" where service men and women, family members, and the general public can find information concerning the people fighting the war, and the war in general. First and foremost, the GWOT Archive honors the men and women that sacrificed their lives and paid the ultimate price. The GWOT Archive hopes to perpetuate their legacy through the perspectives of men and women Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen.
Mission Statement:
The primary mission of the (Internet) Global War on Terror (GWOT) Archive
is to collect, preserve, interpret, and publish on the Internet the history
of the GWOT, from the perspective of the men and women fighting the war.
Story Line:
The story line of the GWOT Archive provides written documentation as to
the subject area or theme. In accordance with the primary mission, the
storyline incorporates the following themes:
I. Core Themes: Service and Sacrifice: America's Armed Forces.
Service and Sacrifice: America's Armed Forces. The U.S. Armed Forces serve
the nation and its citizens. In their oath, service members swear to support
and defend the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution embodies
the nation as a whole, its laws, its ideals, and the rights of its citizens.
II. Embedded Themes: Presented using various methods in the presentations.
1. Stories of Service Members: Personal stories of actual service members.
2. Melting Pot: Selected stories that reveal the ethnic, gender, and social
diversity of the Armed Forces.
3. An Evolving Organization: Improvement of U.S. Armed Forces' ability
to serve.
4. Personal Connections: Establish personal connection with the U.S. Armed
Forces.
The primary content for the GWOT Archive is based on primary source or eyewitness accounts, after action reports, or occasional papers submitted by veterans of the GWOT. Secondary content is derived from official Department of Defense news sources, such as the Department of Defense website and primary military branch websites, all of which is in the public domain. In some cases, service member profiles, previously published by the U.S. government, have been interpreted and published on the GWOT Archive as a marketing tool to stimulate interest and encourage service member submissions.
Scope-of-Collections Statement:
The scope-of-collections is defined as the origin, period, and subject
of the historically significant documents, which the GWOT Archive collects.
The scope-of-collections encompasses primary sources or eyewitness accounts
related to service members of the U.S. Armed Forces, spanning a time-period
from the terrorist attacks on 9-11 against the U.S. World Trade buildings
in New York City, to current military operations of the U.S.-led Global
War on Terror. Emphasis is placed on the individual perspectives of the
men and women fighting the war, in relation their personal background,
ideals, but also general U.S. military strategy, tactics, culture, materiel,
and tradition.
Collections Content Plan:
A thorough analysis of the GWOT Archive determined the essential elements
needed to meet mission goals and complete collection requirements. The
GWOT Archive's content plan consists of documents from the following military
operations:
Current General Content Plan:
The Global War on Terror (Introduction)
Operation Enduring Freedom
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Current Specific Content:
The Men
The Women
Future General Content Plan:
The Horn of Africa
International or Global Terrorism
The Home Front
Audience:
The GWOT Archive focuses on U.S. troops. Therefore, the intended audiences
are troops from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, to include the
Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. An important secondary
audience, the families of the troops, includes service member spouses,
children, mothers and fathers, and siblings. The family audience is directly
concerned with the well being of the troops, and consists of a population
that is more familiar with computers and Internet use. Even the "John
Doe" audience of the American public, which may not have a loved-one serving
in the armed forces, can not go untouched from the effects of the GWOT,
here at home in the United States. Recent statewide senatorial elections,
which focused heavily on the lack of success of the war, echoed restlessness
of the American public over the war in Iraq. In response to public sentiment,
one day after the elections, President Bush relieved Donald H. Rumsfeld
as U.S. Secretary of Defense. Finally, international or global interest
can be expected since terrorism has attacked across the globe.
Audience Hierarchy:
1. Service members
2. Service member's family
3. Service member's unit members
4. Service member's coalition forces
5. General public
Reaching the Audience:
Phase 1: The current but modest, and more importantly humble, methods
of reaching service members are by word of mouth, direct petitioning through
conversation, and direct contact using email. In most cases, email addresses
of potential service members were obtained from official DOD news articles.
Phase 1 Survey Results: Email: Unfortunately, from the onset of phase 1, which began in September and concluded in December 2006, almost no service members responded to email inquiries. Only one from less than one dozen individuals responded to an introductory inquiry. However, a number of inquiries were submitted to individuals directly in the field (Iraq). The lack of response may or may not be attributed to their duties associated with the war.
Word of Mouth: Reaching an audience by word of mouth was more effective. Many individuals, petitioned through conversation, were acquaintances to the author of GWOT Archive. The profile of Marine Gunnery Sergeant (GySgt) Moss was acquired when the author met Moss at Quantico. Both Moss and the author served together at the Assault Amphibian School Battalion, in 1996, at Camp Pendleton, California. The profile of Army Major McDonnell was acquired vise-a-vise the current shared assignment of both McDonnell and the author to the U.S. Army Center of Military History. However, new acquaintances did not respond to casual requests for participation.
Phase 2: Projected methods of reaching greater audience numbers include a more concerted outreach program to web communities, media outlets such as newspapers, and official sponsorship through either a DOD armed forces service branch or private foundations.
Mapping the GWOT Archive:
The GWOT Archive is very easy to navigate with only eight essential links
emanating from the home page. An overarching goal for each page was to
provide information content that would not exceed monitor settings of
800 x 600 pixels and not require scrolling. This format was abandoned
only in the case of individual web pages for service member profiles,
which open in new windows. A guiding principle was never to leave the
site. To achieve this goal, all pages that emanate from a given web page
open new windows. Below the top image or "banner" of each page, two main
links lead to pages with general information concerning Operations Enduring
Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. A third link offers a page specifically designed
for various methods of submitting information. The "Submit Your Story"
page enables veterans the options of entering their information manually
and e-mailing the data using a form. The other options include downloading
a questionnaire and release form, both of which are Microsoft Word documents.
Yet another option, by hyper-linking off-site to the GWOT Archive Blog
site, allows service members to entered information or comments conveniently
on the blog site. On the far top right, a fourth link leads visitors to
a "About this Site" page, which provides information concerning the mission
of the archive and other general information. On the right hand side of
each page, two links lead to pages that are distinguished between male
and female service members. Each of the two gender-specific pages includes
lists of individuals. The profiles of the individual service members are
hyper-linked from the main gender page. New windows open that contain
news lips, hyper-linked completed GWOT questionnaire forms, or occasional
papers. A common hyper-link contained on both gender pages, entitled "Stories
in Theater," an appropriate web page of the Multi-National Force Iraq
website that features video clips of men and women service members and
"why they joined," adds diversity to the GWOT Archive site. A separate
hyper-link to the GWOT Blog site is furthermore made available from the
main gender pages, which is otherwise only accessible via the "Submit
Your Story Page." At the footer of each page, the links to the gender
pages and the blog site are available.
Rationale Why Digital and Not Traditional:
The rational for using a digital format as opposed to a traditional format,
such as conducting taped oral history interviews, is to reach a much broader
audience in the United States and in the actual theaters of operations.
The nature of coordinating a taped interview can be very challenging.
For example, if a participant lived in California, it would be impossible
to travel to California to conduct an interview. However, by using the
Internet, it allows for true global accessibility for everyone, which
includes the GWOT Archive or interview administrator and the interviewee.
Regardless where anyone lives on the planet, the GWOT Archive offers flexibility
and convenience for the collection and submission of information, at any
given time and from any given location.
Review of Existing Sites and Projects:
The GWOT Archive is unique insofar that there are no other website "archives"
that are specifically geared to collecting eyewitness accounts from the
GWOT over the Internet.
Several official DOD Military Service Branch websites feature service member stories and profiles. However, these are limited to the news of individuals from the four military services, to include the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines, and a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Coast Guard. The Department of Defense has the best website that features profiles of individuals in the news (http://www.defendamerica.mil/profiles.html). This site could be categorized an archive since it retains profiles dating back several years, however the web page offers no method of submitting information nor is there any indication that it will be available if the war comes to an end.
Several oral history websites offer opportunities for veterans to document their stories. For example, Governor Pataki of New York launched in 2000 the New York State Veteran's Oral History program. The program offers interviews by video, audio, or telephonic. A self-interview packet includes instructions on how the veteran, friend, or family member can conduct an interview (http://www.dmna.state.ny.U.S. /historic/veterans/vindex.htm). Unfortunately, none of the veteran's histories are readily available to review on the Internet.
Florida State University has an interesting oral history program that includes veterans from World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm. Here, again, the histories are not available on-line. A special request must be completed and submitted to obtain any materials. At first glance, the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress appeared to have a wealth of accessible information, however it turned out to be a fee-based gated archive. The project relies on volunteers to collect and preserve wartime stories primarily focused on first-hand accounts of U.S. Veterans from the 20th Century, including World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. Moreover, civilians who actively supported the various war efforts, such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors, and medical volunteers, are encouraged to share their stories. Categorized as miscellaneous, blog websites account for an extraordinary large number of sites that discuss the GWOT. Current active duty soldiers own several blog sites, however the content is considerate of greater aspects of the conflict that fall outside the scope of this proposal.
The GWOT Archive resembles most closely other oral history projects. A model would be the Library of Congress. However, the GWOT Archive offers interaction with their patrons more than any other site. For the more serious but individual oral history projects, the GWOT Archive can provide oral history packets with detailed instructions on how to conduct an oral history interview.
The collections of the GWOT Archive are purely educational. The GWOT
Archive provides a public information service based on education. It is
a powerful outlet for individuals with a desire to understand an era of
the past and future.
Technical Production Plan:
I. General
Foremost, minimalism and simplicity dictated the technical production
plan for the GWOT Archive. In order to stave off visitor boredom, maintain
visitorship, and receive anecdotal submissions, the site contains little
historical content over and above the accounts of veterans themselves.
Every task was made as simple as possible in relation to submitting material,
whether using the submission form, downloading the questionnaire, or providing
commentary using the blog site. Using myself as a perfect example, as
soon as a website becomes slow, difficult to navigate, or too technical,
I tend to lose interest and depart. The narrative and instructional language
of the GWOT Archive is also simplistic as not to dissuade or even offend
visitors without higher education beyond high school. The U.S. Armed Forces
consist of mostly enlisted personnel without undergraduate work. In order
to make the GWOT Archive visually appealing, various gray tones were the
predominate choice of color. The color selection was applied to the font,
the header, and footer, in order to convey tranquility. The combination
of subtle colors and an overall clean-cut look, consistent with the orderly
life-styles of military personnel, aimed not to offend, irritate, or inconvenience
visitors for a pleasurable "browsing" experience. At the same time, the
bright red, white, and blue banners juxtapose the serenity with a clear
sense of American patriotism and support for the war. This theme coincides
with the idea of providing a "Patriot's Beacon," which strengthens the
solidarity of American service men and women, and the public. The website
background, a pixilated representation of the new pattern used on the
military desert utility uniform, clearly conveys military-related content.
The choice of a standardized web-font, "Lucida Grande," Veranda, sans-serif,
was chosen for ease of reading.
II. Computer Programming and Software Requirements:
The website was created using Adobe's Dreamweaver Ultradrev 4.0. Albeit
outdated, the software is especially easy to use and does not require
advanced web application skills. The website uses Cascading Style Sheets
for browser compatibility, although flaws were detected when using Macintosh
computers. In particular, the Javascripts that hangs small "gif" images
next to the pointer, were lost altogether when using a Macintosh. More
basic Javascripting worked well, such as new window formatting. The format
chosen for new windows included a specific size of 600 pixels high by
800 pixels wide, a scrollbar, but it prevents visitors from resizing windows
and no toolbars or menu bars are provided. More powerful software applications
could enhance the website, such as multi-media applications and databases.
The addition of an emotional "splash page," which consists of a short
multi-media presentation that visitors view (with option to skip) before
they automatically transfer to the index or home page would be ideal.
The use of Flash would be required for such a production, merging imagery,
and audio and video files, but no longer than several fifteen seconds.
Hardware requirements for more iverse
III. Cost
Current Costs:
Minimalism also applies to the cost of the GWOT Archive. The GWOT Archive
is currently open for business and has a future. However, in the event
"funding" is not available, the archive can remain open and administered
by a single individual. The GWOT Archive has zero start-up costs and it
is easily maintained. A free hosting company, Netfirms, hosts the GWOT
Archive. Communications (email) services are provided at no cost by the
George Mason University email service. As such, the only current cost
is time and effort.
Future Costs and Non-Profit Status:
Hardware and software costs for future applications could become prohibitive
for a one-man website design team. The respective cost for Adobe's Dreamweaver
MX is $800.00, Photoshop ($649.00), and Page Maker (pdf). Hardware expenses
for digital video cameras, depending on the quality desired, can be kept
lower with pocket cameras that feature short films. More elaborate features
and lengthy videos would require a larger and more expensive camera. In
the event a military service branch or educational institution does not
sponsor the GWOT Archive, the costs for the conversion of the GWOT Archive
"dot.com" to the GWOT Archive "dot.edu" remain reasonable. Organizations
that apply to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for non-profit educational
status are required to incorporate. The cost to incorporate in the state
of Virginia is $25. The cost for an application to the IRS for 501(c)3
tax exempt or non-profit status is $150. With a tax-exempt ruling as an
educational non-profit organization, the organization is eligible to apply
for grants from private organizations and the federal government. If funding
were made available to the GWOT Archive, based on a creative grant proposal,
a dedicated Web-address would be required, along with a hosting company.
Perhaps a new website would be in order? The cost for registering a web-address
is determined by the commercial company. Network Solutions offers three
or five year plans for $60 or $90 respectively. A web-hosting firm, such
as Netfirms.com, offers a one-year service plan for $60. If participation
in the GWOT Archive is substantial, a database would be most suitable.
Use of the GWOT Archive is free to everyone!
Future expansion possibilities include other theaters of war, eras, international soldiers, and the home front (civilians).
Service men of all branches of the Armed Forces share their experiences.
Service women of all branches of the Armed Forces share their experiences.
A place for service men and women to submit comments and experiences on the GWOT.
