communities mobilize on the web

Amy Harmon in the New York Times:

Web Offers Both News and Comfort
The major news Web sites were quickly overloaded. Many links to the not-so-major news Web sites stopped working. But more than news, what people all over the world craved in the wake of yesterday's terrorist attacks was connection to each other, and many of them found that most easily achieved by going online.

I'll be on The Screen Savers tonight talking about this very topic - the ways web communities have mobilized to deal with the terrorist attacks. I was supposed to plug my book and Fray Day, but this seemed a touch more important.

Frankly, it's all I can think about right now.

{ 12:52pm }

» Well done. It brought some valuable resources to light.

– Joe  { 9.12.01 @ 4:56pm }

» Derek,

You were great. I was totally blushing when you and Leo LaPorte saw that "screensavers" link, though...(I was the one who'd posted it) Frankly, that gave me my first good laugh in about 36 hours...

– roe (metrocake)  { 9.12.01 @ 5:43pm }

» I can't tell you how invaluable weblogs and personal sites have been to me during this tragedy. Friends quickly posted emails, logs, photos from around the city and DC, checking in, telling their story, letting us know they were okay, who they were worried about, who they were looking for.

Everyone has a story to tell, and we'll continue to tell it over and over as a way of coping, as a way of sharing.

A musicians mailing list i've belonged to since 93 has been collecting check-in's from DC, NYC, and PA, old friends checking in. It's been all about old friends checking in and emailing loved ones and family when the phones are down. I was lucky enough to get calls in to my family before the phone lines were jammed. And now it's just a waiting game to hear of our friends that worked in the towers.

I've received emails from New Zealand, Belarus, Canada from friends and family - and well wishes from around the globe.

This virtual community of sharing is invaluable. It helps give us hope, it helps gives us strength, and it bolsters every New Yorkers dogged will to keep going, keep fighting, and to bring back the vitality that is our city.

I think many of us would be in a much different state of mind if we didn't have the immediate feedback from friends and family the various modes of Internet communcation has offered us over the past 36 hours. It's a great thing.

Hopeful wishes to all the friends and family of those who have been touched by the events.

kiri

– kiri  { 9.12.01 @ 5:52pm }

» Yeah Derek, as I told you earlier, I am so impressed and indebted to the web community during this time of crisis. Metafilter has been amazing as far as getting news. No regular news site has the ability to offer this kind of content, as long as you don't mind filtering the crap.

Reading other's weblogs and writing extensively in my own has really helped me deal with this crisis. This could never have been done on this scale before weblogs.

During the course of this tragedy, I have met new friends, helped myself to begin healing and been thanked by others for helping them do the same.

– Jay  { 9.13.01 @ 9:37am }