Webloggers offer views media can't BY DAN GILLMOR Mercury News Technology Columnist In the first hours following the Sept. 11 atrocities, consumers of news learned the ``what'' about the attacks, thanks to the television networks that showed the horror so graphically. Then we learned some of the ``how'' and ``why'' as print publications and thoughtful broadcasters worked to bring depth to events that defied mere words. Journalists did some of their finest work and made me proud to be one of their number.
People who understood the value of online networks were the grateful beneficiaries of another kind of reporting during those same awful hours and days. Via e-mails, mailing lists, chat groups, personal Web journals and non-standard news sources, they received valuable context that the major American media couldn't, or wouldn't, provide.
They were witnessing -- and in many cases were also part of -- journalism's future.
One participant was Dave Farber, a telecommunications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who runs a mailing list called ``Interesting People'' (www.interesting-people.org). Farber, who prowls the Web and gets hundreds of messages each day, sends to his list the material he considers useful. In the wake of the attacks, his correspondents' perspectives -- ranging from national-security issues to critiques of religion, followed by critiques of what he was sending out -- became essential reading for their breadth and depth.
Meanwhile, some members of the weblog community had gone into overdrive. In general, weblogs are personal online journals, updated regularly, featuring links to Web material.
Full Article: http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/opinion/dgillmor/dg093001.htm
===== Kevin Dean Buffalo, NY ICQ: 8616001 http://www.yaysoft.com
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Listen to your Yahoo! Mail messages from any phone. http://phone.yahoo.com