Global human trafficking seen through the lens of semantics and text analytics

Human trafficking is understood as a modern-day form of slavery. It involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is global, is found in every country, affects all genders, and persons of all ages. While pervasive, it is also invisible. Quantitative and qualitative research methods into human trafficking have significant challenges. This program presents collegial collaborative research by the U.S. Department of State and Georgetown University into the use of text analytics and semantic analysis methods to map trafficking, to identify trafficking hubs around the world, and to expose human trafficking. Copyright © 2017 by Association for Information Science and Technology