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Anyone who doubted the reach and power of citizen journalism should have had their mouth shut with the remarkable "amateur" coverage of the tsunami. A brief, by no means comprehensive, survey:

• Peg inspiration Evelyn Rodriguez was vacationing in Thailand when the disaster struck -- she was on a boat when the Tsunami hit. She's been blogging from a free internet station at the hospital. (Yeah, in the "third world." Haven't seen such things at Parkland.)
• Jeff Jarvis and Glenn Reynolds have had exhaustive coverage, particularly of individtual Americans' efforts to offer aid.
• The NYT ran a piece on blogging the disaster.
• Some of the most moving and compelling footage has come from amateurs and was spread by blogs worldwide.
• There have been suggestions that the media (not a particular medium) could/should have done a better job of disseminating warnings, perhaps by SMS.  (We're currently looking into a federal grant because of our planned capabilities in this area.)

It goes without saying that our hearts go out to everyone touched by this tragedy.

The wealth of online coverage shows both the power of citizen journalism and the need for good editors.

Comments

[Evelyn Rodriguez]

Hi there, I'm recovering. I wish I was actually on the boat when the tsunami struck. Just in case you are in that Texas tsunami next time, tuck this in your "surviving a tsunami" tipsheet: a boat away from shore is fairly safe, the beach is not. We were on a boat trip and the captain decided we should land on the beach for safety. Duh!

Anyway, I'm not sure if the hospital always has an Internet station or if it was especially set up for the emergency as I didn't get online until roughly late morning Dec 27th - or approximately 24 hours after the tsunami. I felt silly asking the nurse to wheel me to the email station but then I saw a guy there tapping away at the keyboard with his nurse holding an IV, I didn't. I thought it important that my family hear from me first-hand rather than from 3rd parties (they'd heard I was ok, but no one believes it until you hear from the person in question themselves).