Web Journalist Blog

The recent Haitian tragedy has generated coverage from not only the mainstream media but from all over the Web. Taking on different shapes and technologies, here’s a roundup from good friend Mark Luckie and myself. Please send us more!

:: UPDATED ::
New satellite photos show some devastating comparisons before the major quake rocked Haiti. Wired Magazine compared images: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/satellite-photos-of-haiti-before-and-after-the-earthquake/.

NYTimes also compared before and after images with their impressive swipe tool: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/14/world/20100114-haiti-imagery.html.

CNN showcased raw street cam video as the quake hit. (Credited to CBS, but I could not find it on their site.): http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/01/14/moment.of.haiti.quake.cbs?hpt=C2.

CNN’s iReport was made for a story like this. Knowing they are an international hub, they created a “Looking for loved ones in Haiti” section which is pretty compelling: http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=381628.

Geo information is one of the newest and most powerful tools we now have. The site GeoCommons “delivers visual analytics through maps.” Here’s a map of Haiti earthquake data: http://maker.geocommons.com/maps/10987.

A group called the International Network of Crisis Mappers has paired up with local officials, it seems, to try to map incidents and missing people: http://haiti.ushahidi.com/.

The LATimes has launch its GoogleMap to help cover the story as well: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-haiti-quake14-2010jan14-map,0,564631.htmlstory. And they also offer a Flash earthquake primer: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quakeprimer-fl,0,410617.flash.

The Associated Press sent out one of their special Flash graphics that is available to all its members. This one was hosted on ABCNews.com: http://abcnews.go.com/International/HaitiEarthquake.

The standard tool when covering breaking news is a photo gallery. This event generated many incredibly moving images that led to several galleries, many starting with a warning. Here’s one by MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34833017/ns/news-picture_stories/. Boston.com’s Big Picture did what it does best and just let you have it without a warning: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html.

The NYTimes took a slightly different approach to photography with their tool that allowed you to really study an image: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/13/world/20100113-haiti-close-ups.html.

PicFrong is a real time photo search. Here are the Haiti results. Be warned, there are some graphic images flowing in: http://picfog.com/search/Haiti.

BBC offered an aerial view of the scene with its simple, raw video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8458266.stm.

Live radio from Haiti: http://radiostationworld.com/locations/Haiti/radio_websites.asp.

This piece from the Sydney Morning Herald has some intense video, photos and more as it looks at “how the net revealed Haiti horror”: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/wired-for-disaster-how-net-revealed-haiti-horror-20100113-m6cz.html.

Twitter has been an incredible source. Here’s the latest with the hashtag #haiti: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23haiti But you can also get more detailed with tweets from the ground. Here is a search looking for tweets in a 50-mile radius to Port-au-Prince: http://bit.ly/8pFVuW.

In another GoogleWave experiment, someone launched a public wave to aggregate news and information from mainstream, indie, and live sources: http://dhp.me/haitiwave.

Please send in more examples!