Hurricane Katrina on Technorati

I spent my morning summarizing the current happenings around Hurricane Katrina for a new Technorati page on the topic. Some interesting observations with limited citations as I am just braindumping.

  • Bloggers opened their houses to each other sight unseen.
  • Blogs with video and photo coverage quickly exceeded their bandwidth limits and were offline this morning.
  • CNN setup a special citizen journalists page for submissions.
  • Technorati received calls from media outlets this morning in their search of the latest news from the blogosphere.
  • Bloggers lost power and Internet access put kept on blogging through laptops connected to dial-up modems and free trial Internet accounts, mobile phones, as well as PDAs. They wanted to share their unique story however they could, and the comments and advice helped them know they were not alone as some feared for their lives.
  • Many local bloggers were quick to point out the risk loving people who were down by the shore, on their roofs, and generally disregarding all advice and preparedness.

Later in the day more questions emerged from the blogosphere.

  • Is Bush to blame for the hurricane?
  • Is Katrina a result of global warming?
  • When will the New Orleans Saints be able to play football in the Superdome again?
  • How will this event affect the price of oil?
  • Should emergency workers assist people who disregarded evacuation orders and are now stranded?

I am impressed with the blogging and community action around Hurricane Katrina this morning.

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