Annotations, translation, attributions and abbreviations

Annotations and translation

* I link to stories and resources frequently using the most reliable sources I know. Most use permalinks (permanent web addresses) for their stories, however for a number of reasons some of the links I give may suffer link rot. The most common causes are that the information on the link changes or updates over time, or that the linked page ceases to exist. Where I believe this is likely or possible, I mark the link with a *.

† Items marked with a dagger require translation. I find the Chrome browser does this most efficiently for many languages and produces acceptable results in most that I use. To translate a page from one or more non-English languages to English, right-click in the page then click Translate to English. You may occasionally find that one or more paragraphs does not translate, while others do. If this happens, refresh the page (returning it all to the original language) and try again - that usually works.

If you use a browser other than Chrome, use a search engine to find how to translate a page in then the name of your browser, e.g. how to translate a page in Firefox.

‡ Links marked with a double dagger are to media which have a partial paywall, typically a number of stories per month before you are unable to view further stories that month. I don't link to media with a full paywall.

Attributions

News items are drawn from many sources. I look for hard facts, so my preferred resources are government organisations, relief agencies, independent NGOs and respected journals, media and blogs known for high standards. Attribution is either given in the text of each story or in [square brackets]. I may not attribute the link if the source is obvious on the material once you open the link.

In three cases, I do not normally give attributions because their frequency would become tediously repetitive. Instead, their contribution is acknowledged here:

• In Australian stories, much information and data comes from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Australia's national weather, climate and water agency.
• For international stories, my most frequent source is Reliefweb which describes itself as "the leading humanitarian information source on global crises and disasters" and "a specialised digital service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)." It posts material from about 3,000 relief and humanitarian organisations globally, such as the Red Cross.
• Another frequently consulted source of information, primarily on flooding, is Floodlist.

All of these provide invaluable resources, free from hype or political, ideological or national bias.

Abbreviations

ABC = Australian Broadcasting Corporation
AP = Associated Press
AWN DWS = Australian Weather News Daily Weather Summary
ECHO = European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
SMH = Sydney Morning Herald
VoA = Voice of America

Last updated: 23 September 2019