
INTRODUCTION

     NameBase, by Public Information Research, Inc., is a cumulative name
index that cites sources where the name is mentioned. It contains names
of both individuals and groups. If the source mentioned that the name was
located in or associated with a foreign country for a period of years,
this information was included. The United States is not part of the
country list because this would have made data entry unmanageable.

     Because of the country information that was required, sources that
were already indexed, such as most books, were read and re-indexed. Many
of the sources have never been indexed before anywhere. Some were already
indexed, but important names were skipped for some reason. And many books
were thoroughly indexed, but for the purposes of this database it was too
thorough and wasted too much space. Generally speaking, a judgment was
made to skip casual references to celebrities unless the information was
new or substantive, and preference given to more obscure names that would
be impossible to locate with conventional reference materials.

     Two options are available in this on-line version of NameBase: a list
of all sources indexed, and the name search. Both include the option of
reading an annotation for each of the titles produced on the screen.

SPLITTING A NAME INTO THREE FIELDS

     Proper names of individuals and groups are split between three fields.
If you know approximately how they are split, this allows more powerful
access to the data. If you don't know, you will miss many names that you
would otherwise find. These fields are called most significant, next, and
least. These labels are used to avoid the confusion of "last" and "first"
name, which works fine with individuals but not with groups.

     The most significant is the individual's last (family) name. Sometimes
it is a double family name, with both names separated by a space in this
field. For group names, it is the first name of a group. Even here we
occasionally have a double name, but only when it would seem illogical to
split it -- as in, for example, names that start with UNITED STATES.

     The next significant is the individual's first name or initial. The
most common nicknames (BILL for WILLIAM, JIM for JAMES) are cross-checked
automatically, but to be safe you should account for such variations in your
search technique. For groups, the next name is the second word of the name.

     The least significant for individuals is the middle name or initial,
and for groups it is everything that didn't fit in the other two fields.

RULES USED BY THE PROGRAM FOR MATCHING NAMES

     The best way to use the name search effectively is to know the rules
the program uses for determining whether a name in the database matches a
name requested by the user. The program examines each field in turn and
makes a yes/no decision. If it decides yes for all three fields, then the
citations are displayed. The better you know the rules, the more names you
will find. These rules are the same for both groups and individuals:

     Most significant field: This field must match exactly for the two
names (user's name and name from the data), and that includes spaces and
punctuation. An exception to this rule is described on the next screen.

     Next significant field tries to match five ways: 1) an exact match;
2) either or both fields are blank; 3) the letter or letters in the shorter
field match to this depth in the longer field; 4) the user's "next" name is
found on the internal nickname table, and the name paired with it provides
a match; 5) if the "next" name from the data is a single initial and the
"least" name from the data is longer, the program will, if all else fails,
try to match the user's "next" name with the "least" name from the data.

     Least significant field: Same as 1,2, and 3 in the above paragraph.

UNUSUAL SURNAMES

     Double last names present a special complication because of the fact
that the most significant field requires an exact match. In many cases, if
the Spanish name you want is in the database, it will be entered with the
mother's name after the father's. One way to find out how the name was
entered is to force a leading letters mode in the name search. In other
words, you are forcing an exception to the matching rule on this field
only. The way this is done is to follow the name with a question mark. For
example, if you are looking for HUMBERTO GOMEZ, you would search for it by
using GOMEZ? as the most significant name, since you recognize this as a
Spanish surname and want to include the possibility that the mother's name
follows GOMEZ in that field. Do not use a space in front of the question
mark, as this would produce GOMEZ only if a space follows Z in the database.
At least two letters must always precede the question mark. Some common
Spanish surnames will add the question mark automatically. But this is
only for the benefit of beginners; the name you want will probably require
a question mark from you.

     Another point to keep in mind is that an apostrophe is never used in
the most significant field in the data files, although occasionally it may
show up in one of the other two fields.

ANNOTATION FOR A SOURCE

     Most sources are preceded with a letter when they appear on the
screen, indicating that an annotation is available for that source. This
annotation might suggest possible clues about the individual or group that
is mentioned in the source; however, please keep in mind that annotations
are for the source as a whole. Our description of a source does not
necessarily have any relationship to the fact that a particular name
appears on the pages indicated. Moreover, some descriptive paragraphs are
used by more than one annotation. Photocopies of the pages on which the
name is mentioned are needed before conclusions can be drawn. The only
claim made by Public Information Research is that the name indicated
appears on the pages indicated.

     While inputting we try hard to keep namesakes separated in NameBase,
which is why some names will have identifying information in the least
field. But we don't feel obligated to restrict our inputting to sources
that meet with our approval. A source may completely miss the mark and
still prove valuable -- a mere phrase that gives a person's affiliation
or location can be extremely significant to an investigative journalist.
These can appear as easily in questionable sources as elsewhere. If we
think a source is flaky we'll say so, but we still consider it valuable.

ORDERING PHOTOCOPIES OR FAXES

     All sources cited are filed at Public Information Research, and a
photocopy service is available for registered users only. The cost is
$20.00 per hour plus ten cents a page, which usually comes to a total of
about 75 cents per page. The time required is for pulling and refiling,
and feeding odd sizes to the machine. Copies are sent first class, usually
the next day. For faster service, up to ten photocopies will also be faxed
for a 50% surcharge. Invoicing at 30 days net is available for all services.
Contact Public Information Research, PO Box 680635, San Antonio TX 78268,
Tel: 210-509-3160, Fax: 210-509-3161.

     You can register by sending $30 to PIR, which covers a two-year period
and includes a subscription to NewsLine, our quarterly newsletter. You may
also register by purchasing NameBase at the original purchase price of $79
for the DOS or Macintosh version, which entitles you to half-price updates.
If you registered for $30, you can credit this toward a $79 purchase of
disks during this period. NameBase on disk is more powerful: stacked name
searches, leading letters autoscan, phonetic searches, entry-year
distribution graphs for 145 countries, country and time-frame searches,
extracts from a single source, and extracts of names that appear in both
of two different sources.

FACTS ABOUT PUBLIC INFORMATION RESEARCH

     PIR was incorporated in 1989 by Daniel Brandt and Steve Badrich. Both
tried to stop the Vietnam War during the late 1960s and both made it through
the 1980s without apologizing for this. In 1986 we met while working on an
alternative magazine called The National Reporter in the Washington DC area,
and in 1993 we moved to Texas. These days we feel that it's not so much a
right-left problem, but rather a top-bottom problem. NameBase is mostly for
those who are inclined to look upward to see who's pulling the strings.

     In 1983 Brandt started writing software and inputting the first names.
Today NameBase is used by major news organizations and researchers all over
the world. But while the income from sales takes care of expenses, PIR still
isn't able to pay anyone a salary. Naturally this cramps our style a bit.

     Besides Brandt and Badrich, directors include Martha Moran, Dennis
Brutus, and Randy Guffey. The advisory board consists of Robert Fink, Fred
Goff, Ace Hayes, Jim Hougan, John Loftus, Carl Oglesby, L. Fletcher Prouty,
Katherine Sciacchitano, Peter Dale Scott, and Lanny Sinkin. PIR is nonprofit
and contributions are tax-deductible; our tax ID is 54-1509155. Donations
from individuals or leads on possible funding sources are always welcome.
