Diplomacy Monitor was a free Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

-based tool created in 2003 to monitor diplomacy

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...

 documents (communiqué

Communique

A communiqué is a brief report or statement released by a public agency.Communiqué may also refer to:* Communiqué , a rock band* Communiqué , 1979* Communiqué , 1987...

s, official statements, interview transcripts, etc.) published in various diplomacy-related websites, including official sources from government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

s (head of state

Head of State

A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...

 websites, consulates, foreign ministries) all over the world.

Diplomacy Monitor addressed the emerging Internet-based public diplomacy

Public diplomacy

In international relations, public diplomacy or people's diplomacy, broadly speaking, is the communication with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influence. There is no one definition of Public Diplomacy, and may be easier described than easily defined as definitions...

, whereby the growing number of governments embraces the power of internet to communicate with public worldwide.

The core of the Monitor was a web crawler

Web crawler

A Web crawler is a computer program that browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner or in an orderly fashion. Other terms for Web crawlers are ants, automatic indexers, bots, Web spiders, Web robots, or—especially in the FOAF community—Web scutters.This process is called Web...

 which operated on the websites of interest. After the crawler identified documents of potential interest, they were reviewed and processed by the editorial staff and entered into the database

Database

A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...

.

Diplomacy Monitor ceased operations in November 2009.

Since its establishment, Diplomacy Monitor was quickly recognized as a convenient tool for research in international issues. For example, the Monitor is the "editor's choice" for the Intute

Intute

Intute is a free Web service aimed at students, teachers, and researchers in UK further education and higher education. Intute provides access to online resources, via a large database of resources...

, an online database network of UK universities . Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

: "If you need to stay up-to-date on the latest in diplomatic news, look no further..."