DefinitiveInk

Thinking about where one goes online after a disaster

This morning as I went online after waking to the terrible news from London I did the following things: first, I e-mailed some friends and co-workers there to see if they were okay, then I hit several news sites - the NYT and The Guardian, BBC, etc., then I found myself on flickr searching for photos and sure enough there were a few (many more later in the day), then I went to dailykos.com, talkingpointsmemo.com, juancole.com. These are daily staples for me but today Kos and TPM were  having server issues since they are getting so much traffic and Cole was being interviewed in Salon and on Beliefnet. I went to the NYT and Guardian sites many times today having them both open in tabs on firefox as I listened to the BBC on wnyc.org. Seems from things I've been reading that my actions were the actions of many people.
- paidcontent on how the British media used their online resources.
-The NYT had some incredible photos. One in particular of people walking through a tunnel was taken by a commuter on her way to work - a citizen photojournalist. They also have a good article about people uploading photos of the event.
- WSJ list of citizen journalist coverage. (via Dan Gillmor)

All of this coincides in an interesting way with Susan Mernit's post about a new study by the online publisher's association report about online user experience. Which I'll try to read over the weekend.

Thoughts and prayers to all Londoners.

Google map hack of Iraq casualties

I swear I was talking about creating something similar to this last week but I'm glad someone did it. In my version it would also have blog entries about each soldier that pulled in local newspaper clippings about each soldier. someone did this as well. Maybe they will team up.  In any case visit the site as it tracks the war and its toll of lives from every state in the nation. Here is  a site which pulls the names and info about the soldiers. Some other sites as well. A casualty counter, a counter of the estimated number of Iraqi civilians killed since the war began.

New York becomes Atlanta or Houston pt. 3

We just celebrated Independence Day at a backyard barbecue about three blocks from where this instant city may come into existence. Even the NYT is now agreeing with my earlier point that NYC is becoming Atlanta.

With 17 buildings, many of them soaring 40 to 50 stories, the project would forever transform the borough and its often-intimate landscape, creating a dense urban skyline reminiscent of Houston or Dallas.

Doesn't this look like something that should be in Vegas? Buildings sprouting out of other buildings. What the photo fails to show is the extension of eventual towers going down the recently rezoned 4th Avenue out to Bayridge.  Just like Brooklyn Heights a small sliver of a historic preservation zone will stand in the way of these buildings which seem now to be able to replicate themselves - but for how long?