Information in the national liberation struggle: developing a model

Abstract

Information and communication in times of war is an area that has been much written about, but one which has not often been treated as a topic in its own right from an information science perspective. The national liberation struggles of the second half of the 20th century offer possibilities for the development of an information and communication model, incorporating data on a range of covert and overt information and communication activities by both sides in the conflict. The model takes account of such activities as scouting, secret communication, propaganda, misinformation campaigns, censorship, intelligence gathering and collating, and other aspects of information‐related activity. It offers a capacity to structure this knowledge, indicates gaps and concentrations in activity, and permits audit and assessment of information‐related activity in the struggle. It is intended to be capable of providing perspectives on information warfare in other contexts, although this aspect is not explored here.