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The Oceania section is a geographically defined collection, as illustrated by the highlighted areas on the map above. It includes the Pacific Islands regions commonly referred to as Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia, as well as (more selectively) Australia. As of 2021 the island of New Guinea straddles two political geographies: The western half of the island, West Papua, is politically a part of Indonesia, and considered by some to be part of Southeast Asia; the eastern half of the island, Papua New Guinea, is an independent nation. Information that relates to the indigenous peoples of the island of New Guinea is included in the Oceania section, whether it involves West Papua or Papua New Guinea. Similarly, though the Torres Straights Islands are politically a part of Australia, in this context they are considered as a separate entity, encompassed by Oceania. In the case of Australia and New Zealand, material in the Oceania section primarily relates to the indigenous peoples of those countries, or to other Pacific Islands communities living within their borders. Given the large number of Pacific Islands people who live abroad, web materials that are created by (or directed at) members of the Pacific diaspora are also archived under the heading of Oceania, no matter where the material itself was created.
Within these parameters, emphasis has been placed on documenting COVID-19's impacts on Pacific peoples, cultures and economies. We have also endeavored to capture the ways in which Pacific people have responded to the pandemic. While a certain amount of emphasis has been placed on documenting material created by individuals or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), we also recognize that news organizations and governmental websites within the Pacific Islands region can at times be unstable, and so we have also selectively archived material from these sources to ensure future availability.
The Oceania section is curated by Stuart Dawrs (Pacific Collection, University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa Library), with additional input of Eleanor Kleiber (Pacific Collection, University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa Library).
