Nerve Endings Firing Away

In a weird way, the London bombing was a watershed moment for Flickr, the online photo-sharing website. It was almost like Flickr was an online resource whose broader use was waiting to be discovered. The “Tube network closed” photo on Flickr’s homepage right after the bombings was just one sign. Regular people armed with their camera phones took photos and posted them online, some of them to their Flickr accounts. We were getting near-live pictures much before professional journalists even reached the scene. The people who posted the pictures and grainy videos were right there in the thick of the action, surrounded by smoke and blaring alarms. Like some weird obsession with taking pictures even when faced with imminent danger, people kept taking pictures. It was a global event unfolding through the eyes of ordinary people just like you and me. These pictures often lack quality but nothing tempts like a moment captured in its immediacy where anyone else would dread to be. What does all these amateur photographers roaming around with their camera phones and basic digital cameras mean to us? On one hand, no public moment is ever private again but the benefits of so many people present to capture even the littlest of detail during times of crisis.  The photographic evidence in the hands of the investigators can be invaluable, if nothing else. Coincidentally, Glenn Reynolds has a related article up at MSNBC.   

The Wikipedia put up a far more impressive performance. With every crisis, we find some new technology or service that makes information easier to get (and disseminate). What’s next?