Iraq Body Count introduces new web site

On September 3rd 2007 Iraq Body Count launched a newly designed web site, the first major overhaul of site design and content since the project was launched in January 2003.

Key new features include:

• Automatically updated casualty trend graphs derived from the database
• A listing of published personalising details of Individuals who have been killed, with each accorded their own page where possible
• Cross-links between IBC-recorded Incidents (in which civilians were killed) and the information on individuals killed in them
• Regular From the numbers updates on key facts and figures, some dynamic and self-updating
• Casualty-related Analysis organised into three distinct sections
• Enhanced design, navigation and accessibility features

We have also brought essential facts about IBC together into a completely revised About IBC section, focusing on what we do and why we do it.

Also updated are IBC’s popular web counters, which are being redesigned and improved for compatibility and ease of use, and made consistent with the new site. A small but important aspect of this is that the IBC totals are no longer presented in association with ‘min’ and ‘max’ labels. As before, the higher number in the IBC range refers to the maximum number of reported civilian deaths IBC has been able to reliably add to its database. The change to a simple unlabeled range is intended to help avoid misinterpretation or misrepresentation of these numbers as (for example) the “maximum possible” death toll, or IBC’s ‘estimate’ of it.

The new design will also make possible a series of substantial upgrades to the site’s functionality which will be released over time as resources permit.

IBC consists of a small, hard-working but constantly overstretched team. This means that whenever we dedicate our human resources to one feature of the project, another invariably suffers. Most particularly, the focus on the web upgrade has caused our unanalysed backlog to extend to nearly two months, which is well beyond the 10 to 14 days required for reliable analysis and data extraction. Reducing that backlog is now our priority.

We are dependent on our regular users for feedback on the site, including notice of any technical problems, bad links, etc.. For all comment on the site, email