networkworld.com — In a powerful presentation, Alan Gutierrez of the nonprofit group Think New Orleans detailed an inspiring post-Hurricane Katrina story of how a crash course in social networking helped people emerge from the rubble; find their voice; fight the government; solicit help; and save their neighborhoods, schools and each other.
Jun 30, 2008 View in Crawl 4
dgaspardJul 1, 2008
I have clean water....
mononuclearJul 1, 2008
In that case where you are already evacuated then it wouldn't be hard to call or anything else. Granted internet is the easiest way to let large numbers of friends know whats happening the quickest.The first sentence of the parent then about "with phones down and communication at a stand still after the storm" has nothing to do with anything. It doesn't matter if phones were down or not because the people obviously were somewhere else. That is like me saying "Because the streets were blocked in peru from the earthquake I took the bus to school today in Washington"
zombies187Jul 1, 2008
Uhhh...you dummies don't seem to be aware that having insurance is not enough to rebuild under these conditions. What do you say to people paid insurance and got screwed anyway? Let me guess...who cares? The welfare queens of Iowa take money for NOT farming. They hide behind federal levees and congratulate themselves for their 'self-reliance.' Far less people needed to evacuate from Iowa than people who COULDN'T evacuate from New Orleans. Also, the feds didn't build fake levees in Iowa, but they did in New Orleans. You can simplify everything to race, but it reveals that you don't care about the lowest of the low. First you judge then you mock. A new home for every citizen...you would have to be stupid to believe such made up stupidness. OK, rant over. Go back to comparing apples and oranges. And don't forget to not care if oranges live or die.
crampy20Jul 1, 2008
Just because you have water it doesn't mean that everyone has water - and anyway, fundamentally and retardedly missing the point of my post.
alangutierrezJul 1, 2008
Thank you for the Diggs. It was a great experience to speak before a technical community at Catalyst 2008. People who understand the inherent complexity in any human endeavor and on whom the scope and scale of Gulf Coast recovery is not lost.The response has been a lot more understanding that the pundit class who can't seem to figure out why we've not gone away yet, I suppose, because we're so 1,039 news cycles ago.To the commentators, yes the Coast Guard were heros. The State of Louisiana's Police and WIldlife and Fisheries were also first responders. There was a Cajun flotilla of locals who ferried people out with their flat bottom boats. Texas came through for us in a big way sending helicopters, white water rescue squads, medical personnel, law enforcement. Despite the strange news stores of dissertation NOPD did stay and NOFD really performed.Our mayor is a horrible do-nothing fellow who basically hides in City Hall. I wish we'd gotten Landrieu, but a bunch of people didn't vote for him out of spite. Uptown conservatives tipped the scale for Nagin. Rob Couhig is still living down his endorsement. If there's a lesson, it is that the more people say there's no difference between two candidates, the bigger the difference is.Finally, we do have water. Delicious, mouth of the Mississippi, tap water. Although, I would not be surprised if there are still problems with getting water turned on when a home is rebuilt and people still battling criminals who steal copper pipes. But, It's not like people are dying of dysentery.It's important to be honest about the situation down here and to not exaggerate it.It's disheartening to see the response of our government, but it does no good to exaggerate. We're very fortunate to have the constant support of volunteers. We've been host to tens of thousands of volunteers, working with us to rebuild our city.
ypsamiJul 1, 2008
Some people think that Katrina is the first disaster of it's kind. No s**t. These are also the same people who got intelligent design into the classroom.Anyways, if you had insurance, and got screwed- I'm sorry. I really am. You tried to be responsible and it sucks that you got f**ked, but you did have a choice in insurance company, and you did have the option to save for emergencies.What I am trying to say is: "Personal responsibility and accountability is paramount."You chose to live there. You chose to live in the specific area you lived in. You chose your insurance provider. You chose to save or not. And sometimes: s**t happens.. but when it does, should I have to pay for you to get out of s**t? If so, that's pretty sweet for me, because now you can pay off a debt I incurred through a land lord f**king me. It wasn't my fault, so everyone else in the country should help me fix that problem.
liprapJul 2, 2008
As a member of the New Orleans blogpocheh that this article touches on, I am so glad this is getting the notice that it is. We are a diverse, vibrant group of folks that may have fallen into blogging due to tragedy, but we are sticking together and holding each other up in ways that we probably never could have individually.And actually Hizzoner Da Mayor, aka The Walking Id of New Orleans, hides out abroad and in Dallas much, much more than he is actually helping out the city. Just saying...
baloourizaJul 2, 2008
But you didn't stop him, either, which is just as bad as voting for him.
greatgatsbyiiJul 4, 2008
well the social networking was in place when they voted him back in, so doubtful.