As was highlighted recently on NPR, given the large volume of documentation emerging from Syria, creating a usable and searchable repository requires large investments in tech and big data tools. But even the best tools cannot completely replace manual analysis. SJAC’s team of Data Analysts (DAs) work tirelessly to tag, label, and link documentation and actors, enabling the creation of case files and investigations into specific events.*

Not all of the documentation that the DAs encounter is straightforward, however, and over the past three years of work, the team has had to sort through complex legal and methodological questions. The following are some of the issues that have come up, due to the complicated and multi-faceted nature of the Syrian conflict.