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Diwan: Preservation Software

Mnemonic preserves online information using Diwan, a software developed and maintained by Mnemonic according to international operational standards to ensure credibility and reliability for human rights investigations. The word “Diwan”, or “ديوان” in Arabic, means a collection of works that are connected by theme or style.

What is archived?

Diwan enables the automated and manual large-scale collection and preservation of digital open source material from social media platforms and websites. In line with recommended evidence collection practices, Diwan archives:

The metadata associated with the URL (the fields may vary depending on the platform);
A screenshot of the URL for platforms from which the metadata cannot be directly extracted via a publicly available API;
The embedded media content (videos, images and audio); and
The HTML, WARC, or the JSON file of the archived material.

Forensic Principles of Diwan

Immutability

Diwan treats every piece of information like a permanent note. Once data is archived, it is not possible for users to erase or overwrite it. It is only possible to add new details alongside it. This way, Diwan has a clear, unchangeable record of everything that’s ever been collected and archived.

Integrity

Diwan double-checks every piece of scraped data against a simple template (known as a “schema”). If a required field is missing or collected badly, it logs a warning to re-archive the affected record and ensure that all expected files and metadata are collected and archived properly.

Reliability

All processes that Diwan uses in handling open source information are logged, auditable and repeatable. The results of applying such processes are reproducible. Diwan logs all new updates to the archived record

Authenticity

Diwan has the ability to demonstrate that a digital item has remained unchanged from when it was collected. Diwan generates multiple hash values for the collected metadata and files of the archived record.

Elfehrest: Archive Interface & Annotation Platform

Information archived through Diwan is available for viewing and analysis on Elfehrest, the web-based platform that Mnemonic’s team developed to interact with archived data that has been collected from online open sources. The word “Elfehrest”, or “الفهرست” in Arabic, means “the index”.

What does the platform do?

Elfehrest is a platform designed to enable Mnemonic’s team and its partners to securely access, search, and analyse millions of archived records for use in public investigation reports, reports supporting litigation, responses to requests for information and assistance from accountability bodies, and more.

Elfehrest also employs machine learning modules to prioritise records and improve their discoverability.

Elfehrest Enables Its Users to:

View, tag, and annotate archived records

Submit URLs for Diwan archiving

Create and manage tagging schemas

Cluster records into groups or incidents and then group those into broader datasets

Link records, incidents, and events to actors or potential suspects

Define command structures and map deployments of state and non-state actors

Publish data to programme websites

Export archived records to external partners

Collaborate within teams with different accessibility levels

Check Our Resources

We aim to strengthen the open source field through a sustainable model that multiplies our impact. By sharing Mnemonic’s training and methodologies, we enable our partners to equip other local actors with open source tools and practices for research, legal case building and the preservation of historical records and collective memory.