[by Staci Kramer] I’ve been looking for better ways to harness the flow of Hurricane Katrina information, expanding online at an incredible pace fed by a wealth of individuals and organizations. Collecting links helps but it isn’t enough. Tagging isn’t used widely enough yet to make a big difference; it’s also ad hoc (as is the best of the web), which means a lot of different tags are in the mix. (Even so, if you’re collecting information about people caught in the hurricane, please add the “Missing” tag, as Jeff Jarvis suggests.)
Just to narrow it down to one very specific area, can anyone help figure out how to aggregate all of the personal status reports (missing/safe/lost/found, etc.) into one searchable database or other searchable format? Ideally, we’d be able to do the same by zip code, neighborhood, parish and other formations but if we could just accomplish an aggregated people finder that would be a huge accomplishment. The same could happen for jobs, housing, etc. but first things first.
I think I see some other opportunities, too. (Some of you may already be working along these lines; please let me know about those efforts.)
– I was approached by someone from New Orleans desperate for help from Google. I forwarded the request to someone I’ve interviewed there but Google isn’t the only place that could do what he wanted: tie “flood levels, body counts, trapped individuals etc.” to maps. What if local search sites applied some of those resources to New Orleans, Southeast Mississippi and other areas battered by the hurricane? Instead of pointing to restaurants and businesses that no longer exist, they could provide zip-code information centers incorporating data, maps and photos from FEMA, the Corps of Engineers and other resources. (I’ve been collecting some at an OJR wiki.) Create spaces for people to meet online — and publicize it.
– Create an uber-directory that pulls it all together — volunteer efforts and professional — in one place.
– Work together to span sites and portals. Create a network.
I know this doesn’t sound like much in the face of such tragedy. But it could make a difference. These are just ideas. You may have your own; there are many ways to improve on mine. E-mail me at kramersd@gmail.com, or comments open below (RSS readers will have to click through…
postCount(‘kat1′); | postCountTB(‘kat1′);
Comments have been disabled for this post