Our Interaction with Tragedy has Changed
Tim April 17th, 2007
Working at a state university in Virginia, it was inevitable that I would not only hear about the tragedy at Virginia Tech but also experience much of it firsthand. I am lucky in a sense to not have any close friends currently attending. This post is not to ride on the backs of great tragedy for the purpose of hits to the site. I simply felt that there are interesting aspects of how social the web has become and how it is reflected when tragedy strikes.
I was in high school when the Columbine massacre happened. We heard the news reports. For days it was on our television screens and radio stations. The closest glimpse we had of the events unfolding was the security camera footage that revealed the chaos of the event. How times have changed.
Fast forward to 2007 and we have a different picture of how we receive events. First source, Virginia Tech’s Homepage, which had to have all other network sources cut in order to handle the feed of traffic. Quickly reports start coming in from the television as well as the web. But this time it’s different. The source of much of the footage is cell phone cameras and videos. Twitter is buzzing with the latest news. Hundreds of facebook groups have been created to help people connect and send grievances to the students, faculty, and staff. Wikipedia keeps everyone up to date on the latest happenings in regards to the event and that news coverage surrounding it.
We have first person accounts not from witnesses on television, but bloggers on Livejournal. We have photos, not from Getty Images, but a Flickr Pool. The landscape has changed. If ever there were a moment where the reality of what the web has done to mass media has hit, it is now.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the shooting. Continue to pray, cope, and heal.
