VOA常速英语:卡特中心利用社交媒体绘制叙利亚冲突地图

When the Syrian conflict began, one of the greatest needs was reliable information. “All we were seeing is propaganda.”

But the conflict erupted in a part of the world that is well-connected, digitally.

Syrians, and actually people in the Middle East in general,are two to four times as likely to share information about politics, and religious views online."

That was something Christopher McNaboe, then an intern at the Carter Center, identified as an asset.

“There are actually more minutes of video than of real time conflict.The Syrian conflict represents a major paradigm shift in the way in which conflict plays out.Previous conflicts did not take place and connected environments like Syria.”

Using social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Tweeter, McNaboe compiled information on the location of combatants,who they aligned with, and who was joining them.

Through this process,we’ve been able to document the formation of over 7,000 opposition armed groups in Syria since the beginning of this conflict.Not all of them remain active to this day."

Mapping the war in Syria is now McNaboe’s full-time job at the Carter Center,sharing detailed information with mediators and humanitarian organizations to help them understand the complexities of the conflict.

So when the United Nations needs to find the best avenue to take in relief supplies, we can tell them which way to go.

The Carter Center shares some of its Syrian maps and reports publicly, available to news media, non-profits and governments alike.

Former President Jimmy Carter says he provided this information to President Vladimir Putin when Russian forces entered Syria in 2015.

When he got ready to join in, and bomb, factions within Syria,I wanted to make sure he would bomb the right ones or at least he knew what he was bombing.So I sent him a message through his embassy and said we have this capability in Syria to tell you where things are, people are located;do you want to have that? so the next day I got a response from him, ’Yes, I would like to have your maps.’So we sent our maps, on a current basis, to President Putin.So when he bombed in Syria, he knows from us where the different people in Syria are located."

McNaboe says the intention was to let the Russians know the Carter Center could monitor their targets in Syria.

Despite perceived military advantages to having the maps and reports,McNaboe says they don’t share information that puts people at risk.

“If you are a combatant in the conflict and you don’t know where the front lines are,our information is, is not going to help you too much.Um, you’ve got bigger problems, um, and so we are careful of what we make totally public.We want our effort to pursue peace and support peace efforts,and do everything it can to reduce the risk to civilians and any participant in the conflict.”

A conflict now entering its seventh year, at a time when more U.S. military forces are joining the fight on the ground, engaged in a war with no clear end in sight.

Kane farabaugh, VOA news, Atlanta.