In addition to the wealth of data that is publicly available through federal, state, or local government sources, at Columbia you have access to a number of other rich datasets. You can access these datasets through the Numeric Data Catalog and the Spatial Data Catalog, which are maintained by the DSSC Data Service at Lehman Library. (And if you’ve never checked out the page on NYC data sources, you should do so now!)

One example of these interesting datasets is the Cross-National Time-Series Data Archive. This resource was started in 1968, and some of its data goes back to 1815. Of primary interest is that this dataset records occurrences of domestic conflict events (defined as: General Strikes, Purges, Government Crises, Riots, Assassinations, Anti-Government Demonstrations, Guerilla Warfare, and Revolutions) for many countries, going back to 1919. This dataset has released a new feature beginning with the 2011 data, in which each of these listed events is also linked to a relevant New York Times story. You can find frequencies for the events in the main file <CNTSDATA.xls>, and the links to related NYT stories in another file <2012 Edition LINKS.xls or 2013 Edition LINKS.xls>.

The CNTS FAQ page provides information on variables, countries included, the codebook, and more:
http://www.databanksinternational.com/71.html

Before downloading this data, you must read ICPSR’s Responsible Use Statement, available here:
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/datamanagement/lifecycle/access.html

ICPSR’s guide to data citation:
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/datamanagement/citations.html
 
For any questions about using this or other datasets, contact the DSSC Data Service at: dssc.data@columbia.edu or 212-854-6012