Integrated Data for Events Analysis (IDEA): An Event Typology for Automated Events Data Development

Abstract

This article outlines the basic parameters and current status of the Integrated Data for Event Analysis (IDEA) project. IDEA provides a comprehensive events framework for the analysis of international interactions by supplementing the event forms from all earlier projects with new event forms needed to monitor contemporary trends in civil and interstate politics. It uses a more flexible multi-leveled event and actor/target hierarchy that can be expanded to incorporate new event forms and actors/targets, and adds dimensions that can be employed to construct indicators for early warning and assessing conflict escalation. IDEA is currently being used in the automatedcoding of news reports (Reuters Business Briefs) and, in collaboration withother projects, in the analysis of field reports. The article summarizes the conceptual framework being used in this data development effort, its major variables, and its geographic and temporal coverage.