The Heart of Hope
This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialogue, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.
The World Bank in Africa
The World Bank is a source of financial and technical information and assistance to developing countries around the world.
'AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa - aggregating, producing and distributing news and information from over 140 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. AllAfrica's multi-channel platform is the only independent, comprehensive pan-African news source, with unrivaled reach and reputation. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Monrovia, Nairobi and Washington DC.'
Frobenius Institute’s Online Image Database
The database comprises some 90,000 images produced between 1830 and the 1960s during expeditions organized by the Frobenius Institute in the first half of the 20th century to Africa, but also to Australia, Indonesia and South America. Please note that most of the image metadata is in the German language.
Here is a suggested set of questions to ask yourself when making an assessment of any published source of information, not just websites:
Who authored it, and what are his/her/their credentials? In the case of a book, there may be something in the 'blurb' on the back cover about the author. In academic publications there are often notes about the author(s) and their qualifications and experience which enable them to speak authoritatively about their subject. Are they affiliated to a university or a research institute?
Websites are often created by more than one person, but it is still important to check who the authors are. See if there is an 'About Us' link giving information about the website, or the organisation and people maintaining it. Are there any reliable contact details? What are the stated aims of the organisation?
Does the book or website contain up-to-date references to source materials, particularly to original research or statistics, so that you can check whether the discussion or opinions are based on reliable facts? Is it aimed at a popular audience, or is it more scholarly and reasoned in its approach? What kind of language does it use: is it rhetorical or emotive, and does the author back up his/her/their arguments with appropriate facts and original sources?
Think about the possibility of any bias in the information you have found. Is it possible that the organisation represented by the author or website has a particular standpoint to promote: is it a campaigning or pressure group, a government department, or public information service?
If the source is likely to have a bias, make sure you check any references or links provided, and find some other sources with a contrasting standpoint, preferably from an academic book or journal. It is good practice to use a variety of sources of information so you can compare and contrast different viewpoints on a topic.
Check how up-to-date the information is. A book or a journal will usually have a clear date of publication on its cover or title page. If it doesn't, check the date of the latest item in any bibliography at the end of the book or article.
In the case of a website, try to find the date when it was last updated. In some subjects such as law or economics, the validity of information may change more rapidly than in others, so you will need to be careful. Are any links from it to other sites still active?