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Thursday, September 01, 2005
Just an Idea
NASA's
new Cruise Phone. Six inches long, 600 mph.
We can send it anywhere... not. But we can do SOMEthing.
We can send it anywhere... not. But we can do SOMEthing.
PSAYINGS.5D. I know that bloggers are casting around for a way to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I'm aware, for example, that some of the big blogs are planning to become clearinghouses for contributions to charities. This will undoubtedly do some good; however, it appears to leave a lot of the blogosphere's real strengths on the table. So I'd like to propose the outline of an idea -- still hazy, to be sure -- but perhaps sufficient to generate more specific action items.
What are the blogosphere's strengths? It is literally everywhere, a vast network that takes in all geographical regions and dozens if not hundreds of capabilities. The short history of this medium has also shown that it is most effective when its resources are sharply focused on a specific task or objective. And the one attribute that practically all bloggers share is an awareness of the prime importance of communications.
The difficulty to date in applying effective help to the stricken areas is that communications have been crippled. Land lines are down, cell phone batteries are dead, and, probably, many cells are dead. Some repairs will be made in weeks to come, but the communication problems are likely to continue for a long time afterwards. Families who do not yet know if their friends and relatives are alive or suffering may continue in this state for much longer than anyone imagines. That's why my suggestion is that the blogosphere focus its efforts on the communication problems.
Blog email addresses can be depots for those who wish to get word to their families in other parts of the country. Bloggers with the right long distance plans can accept phone numbers and messages by email and place the phone calls.
Bloggers can also join together to secure prepaid cell phones in bulk, satellite phones, etc, and, via bloggers close to the scene, establish distribution centers and delivery systems. This mission is to get communication devices into the hands of ordinary people and keep the supply of batteries, etc, flowing.
Waiting for all the existing bureaucracies to provide real help to ordinary folks will be tedious, wasteful, and frustrating. This is a situation that cries out for entrepreneurial initiatives. Being way stations for charities seems like too low a bar to set for ourselves.
Please take the time to record any suggestions, criticisms, or useful information in the Comments section, or email this website.
