The disheartening events in Mumbai have saddened me. Most people, whether they align with India on substantiative issues, would agree that terror is not an acceptable route to meeting one’s objectives. While this mayhem went on and I tried to keep track, the most upto-date information came from neither CNN nor New York Times – two of my favorite news sources – but from crowdsourcing.
(Twitter.com keyword search #mumbai)Twitter provided and is providing streaming first-hand accounts, information on which news networks (NDTV.com) are providing best coverage, information on death and destruction, call for blood to help victims at specific hospitals. Its, literally, been a lifesaver.
Crowdsourced list of dead/injured on Google DocsGoing one step further, there is crowdsourced list of dead & injured created on Google Docs – again a list compiled from various sources, Wikipedia style.
Changing Role of Media
The role of media must evolve from point-to-point journalism where one reporter reports, to making sense of several distributed sources, validating them after-the-fact, editorializing the content and providing a centralized “dashboard” that combines information from these various sources.
Finally, as Om Malik said on his blog – “The shock is so extreme that I am incapable of anger.” Hope the season of peace and happiness brings no further violence.